OREANDA-NEWS. November 17, 2008. Belarus is mulling over a possibility of attracting foreign companies in the area of life insurance, Vice-Premier of Belarus Andrei Kobyakov told reporters in London, reported the Official website www.government.by.

“I am referring to the insurance companies – residents of Belarus. This is a principled position,” he said.

Insurance is one of the economic sectors where the government is going to take some liberalisation steps. “Most likely this is going to be the area of voluntary insurance,” Andrei Kobyakov added. According to him, so far voluntary insurance has accounted for the least share of the total volume of insurance services”.

Belarus is in complex negotiations with the IMF, Belarus Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Kobyakov told media. The Vice Premier reminded, it does not mean Belarus will take a loan on any terms. The IMF should practise different approaches, believes Andrei Kobyakov. He explained, slightly affected by the global financial crisis, Belarus cannot take credit resources on the same terms as countries greatly affected by the crisis do.

Belarusian government and the National Bank had requested the IMF to provide a loan as large as at least US2 billion for replenishing the gold and foreign exchange reserves.

The Belarusian side plans to receive the other part of the Russian loan in February 2009, Vice Premier of Belarus Andrei Kobyakov told. In his words, that goes in line with the agreement signed with the Russian Federation on issuing a US 2 billion state loan to Belarus.

Russia’s state loan will be extended to Belarus for 15 years at LIBOR+3% with a five-year deferment on the principal debt. The first part of the loan (US1 billion) will be given in 2008.