OREANDA-NEWS. In order to draw direct foreign investments in the amount of at least USD 2.5 billion in the form of proceeds from state property sales in 2013, Belarus will have to put up for sale highly liquid assets, which will require a political decision.

Georgi Kuznetsov, Chairman of the State Property Committee, made a statement to this effect at a board meeting.

“We suggest selling some of the shares of Naftan and Belaruskali. It can really earn USD 2.5 billion but we are not getting anywhere,” he stated. The matter will be discussed by the government soon, specified the chairman.

Under the deal with the EurAsEC Financial Bailout Fund, which helped Belarus avert economic collapse, Minsk pledged to sell USD 2.5 billion worth of state assets a year for three years. Since then, it has sold its gas pipeline network to Russia's Gazprom. To receive the fifth tranche of the loan to the tine of USD 440 million, Belarus is supposed to meet the target by February 28, 2013 at the latest.