Russia will allow Belarus to postpone debt payments totalling $1.4 billion for 10 years, while also setting a fixed interest rate, according to draft laws approved by Russian lower house of parliament, or Duma, on Tuesday, Reuters reported. At the start of the year, Belarus has asked Russia to restructure and refinance Minsk's 2022 debt obligations and Moscow would move all payments, redemptions and debt servicing due between March 2022 and April 2023 to 2028-2033, Timur Maksimov, Russian deputy finance minister, told Duma.
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Belarus
European Union nations sketched out plans Thursday for new sanctions against Belarus, targeting economic sectors close to its authoritarian leader, as they sought to strike back at him for the diversion of a passenger jet to arrest a dissident journalist, Reuters reported. Meeting in Lisbon, EU foreign ministers vowed to continue ramping up pressure on Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko — whose disdain for democratic norms and human rights has made his country a pariah in the West.
A bill on the resolution of insolvency is now available for public hearings on the Legal Forum of Belarus, BelTA has learned. The bill is designed to encourage commercial entities to voluntarily and timely declare their financial insolvency, BelTa reported. The bill has revised the existing practice of court rulings on insolvency (bankruptcy) cases.
Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko spooked bond markets on Thursday by speaking of a possible restructuring of $4 billion of Belarussian foreign debt falling due this year, then softened his comments to refer only to refinancing, Reuters reported. During a marathon news conference the veteran Belarussian leader made the bombshell comment that Belarus might hold talks to restructure its debts if it was struggling to repay them. That triggered a fall of 27 cents to the dollar in the value of Belarussian sovereign bonds.
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Cash-strapped Belarus has turned to the International Monetary Fund for a new loan, the Belarussian government said on its web site Wednesday, as a much-anticipated bailout from a Russian-led fund will likely be smaller than expected, The Wall Street Journal reported. Prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich said Belarus was seeking a loan of between $2.5 billion and $8 billion, the country's state-run news agency reported. Belarus devalued its ruble by 36% in May, after depleting its reserves by a quarter since the beginning of the year, trying to support the currency.
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Outbursts of civil unrest have occurred in recent weeks across the periphery of Europe, where the global financial crisis has buffeted smaller countries with fewer resources to defend their economies, The Washington Post reported. Especially in Eastern Europe, the turmoil reflects surging political discontent and threatens to topple shaky governments that have been the focus of popular resentment over corruption for years.
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