OREANDA-NEWS. October 16, 2009. The government of Belarus has signed an agreement with Sberbank of Russia on issuing beneficial loans to purchase Belarus machinery by Russian consumers, state-run agency BelTA reported quoting the Ministry of Finance of Belarus. As a result of the economic downturn, Belarus saw its exports halve and GDP declined nearly 0.3%. Earlier, Minsk reiterated its intention to gain access to lending for machinery purchases under government programs.

The agreement calls for Sberbank to float beneficial loans to purchase Belarus machines and agricultural machinery and Belarus is to partly cover interest rates under loans to the bank within the limit of CBR’s refinancing rate. Credits are to be issued in 2009-2010 for up to five years. The Finance Ministry did not comment on the proposed amounts of lending.