OREANDA-NEWS. Belarus will leave its gold and FX reserves intact in 2014, fully relying on new borrowings to pay off the government's external debt.

Belarus' Vice Premier Pyotr Prokopovich made a statement to this effect in a speech before Belarusian parliamentarians on Friday in Minsk.

Belarus is supposed to pay out USD 2.6 billion in 2014 to take care of its external liabilities, he reminded. “The goal is to restructure the external debt. The budget plan for 2014 says we are supposed to gain USD 2 billion at the expense of internal and external borrowings. But I think it will be at least USD 2.6 billion,” Prokopovich said.

“We must keep our gold and FX reserves intact, while paying off our debts,” the vice premier explained.