OREANDA-NEWS. The Belarusian state-run fertilizer producer Belaruskali has started to repay a U.S. USD 1 billion loan taken from Russia's Sberbank in November 2011, a source with knowledge of the situation told.

“The redemption of the loan has begun. The payments will be made in accordance with the preset schedule,” the source said without disclosing the details.

Sberbank and Eurasian Development Bank gave the company USD 900 million and USD 100 million tranches, respectively. Sberbank later refinanced the loan. The bank's CEO German Gref said that the loan could be refinanced once again.