President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko thanked his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for helping the republic’s economy. RIA Novosti reports.
During a meeting with the Russian leader in Sochi, he noted that the money received from Moscow “was not wasted.” “We are investing in production, buying a huge amount of raw materials and components from Russia, and this volume is growing all the time. If we implement the projects that we have approved, then imports from the Russian Federation will increase significantly,” Lukashenko said.
The head of Belarus pointed out that “out of about $ 70 billion of the gross domestic product of Belarus, at least half of the trade turnover is” tied “to Russia.
Earlier it was reported that Russia will provide Belarus with a loan of $ 1.5 billion. Moreover, part of the allocated funds will be used to repay previous loans from Russia. In early February 2021, the Minister of Finance of the Republic, Yuri Seliverstov, announced that Minsk expects to receive the second tranche of a loan of $ 500 million from Russia in the first half of this year. The Belarusian Ministry of Finance received the first tranche of the loan in the amount of $ 500 million on December 30, 2020.