OREANDA-NEWS. September 15, 2009. Belarus’ state foreign debt went up 12.6% on the month in July to U.S. USD 6.09 billion as of August 1, 2009, an official with the Finance Ministry told.

In January-July, the foreign debt increased 63.8%.

The government’s long-term debt accounted for 98.1% of the total foreign debt, government’s short-term debt for 0%, and foreign loans to companies’ against the government’s security for 1.9%. As of August 1, 2008, the figures were at 97.9%, 0% and 2.1%.

The increase in the foreign state debt was due to the receipt of the first U.S. USD 787.9 million trance of the International Monetary Fund’s stand-by loan.

Also, Belarus received a USD 500 million tranche of Russia’s stabilization loan in March.

Belarus on July 2 received a second tranche of the IMF loan under the Stand-By Arrangement program. The tranche amounts to U.S. USD 679.2 million.

The Executive Board of the IMF on June 29 completed the first review of Belarus’ performance under a program supported by a Stand-By Arrangement and increased the financial support to SDR 2.27 billion (about USD 3.52 billion).

Belarus’ main creditors are Russia, Venezuela, Germany, the U.S., the IMF and the World Bank.

In 2008, Belarus’ foreign debt surged 58.9% to USD 3.719 billion as of January 1, 2009.