OREANDA-NEWS. April 28, 2009. The loan debt burden on Belarus is not critical, Alexander Lukashenko said when answering the questions of reporters in Komarin on April 25.

When commenting on the statements of top-ranking officials of Russia that Belarus does not have sufficient resources to meet its loan obligations smoothly, Alexander Lukashenko stressed: “According to the international standards, 25% of GDP is the line a government should not cross. It is less than 8% in Belarus now. Here you’ve got the answer.” The head of state said that if Belarus takes loans, it keeps them in gold and foreign currency reserves as “a safety net” rather than “eats them away”. “Those in Russia or other states who say that we have crossed the safety line are afraid that will ask them for loans. In that way they let us know that they will be thinking whether to give a loan or not. There is no need pushing us suggesting that we have crossed the safety line,” the Belarusian leader said.

The President stressed that at the moment Belarus is not asking for loans. As Alexander Lukashenko said there is some progress in the country. If this dynamics remains in place, by the end of the year “the things will look good for us”, the President believes. “We have not plunged into an abyss of the crisis. We have stopped on the brink. The main thing today is to preserve the growth dynamics,” he said.

Speaking about the loan debt burden on the state, the President noted: “This is tolerable. There is no catastrophe. If a necessity arises, we will ask for loans”. Alexander Lukashenko added that for the past year and a half Russia “pumped out” more than USD 10 billion from Belarus by means of increasing the gas prices and introducing oil duty. At the same time it extended Belarus a USD 2bn loan under a very high interest rate which is charged nowhere in the world now.