OREANDA-NEWS. September 17, 2010. Belarus may have to use Chinese loans and receipts from its Eurobond issue to finance its budget deficit in 2011, projected at 6 trillion Belarusian rubles (Br), or 3% of GDP, Finance Minister Andrei Kharkovets told reporters on Monday.

“The most crucial thing is to attract Chinese loans. We take tied loans to finance investment projects, but it is hard to say how many there will be. We proposed 13 projects to the Chinese side, all of them had been approved by the currency and credit commission and analyzed by the government,” the minister said.

He also said another Eurobond issue may be completed in 2011 to finance the budget deficit “if the situation calls for it.” “We have the necessary legal framework. We have a presidential ordinance enabling us to borrow up to USD 2 billion in 2010-2011. We have borrowed a half, and there is still the other half,” Kharkovets said.