MINSK, 1 October (BelTA) – The Belarusian government will earmark Br4.9 billion to repay the state debt in 2021 and honor all commitments, Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko said at a meeting of the Presidium of the Council of Ministers held to review the drafts of the forecast of the social and economic development of Belarus, the monetary policy guidelines and the national budget for 2021, BelTA has learned.
“The government will allocate Br4.9 billion to repay the state debt in 2021, including Br4.2 billion to repay the external debt and Br700 million – the domestic debt,” he said.
Roman Golovchenko said that he considers it necessary to pre-empt comments in certain media that "the country is going to collapse under a burden of debts." “No one's going to collapse. These funds are provided. The country fulfills, as always, all debt obligations in a timely manner without compromising its social obligations and development goals,” the prime minister stressed.
The key requirement for the budget is balance, focus on social issues and infrastructure development, Roman Golovchenko noted. Yet, the budget for 2021 is being drawn up in the conditions of limited resources. "This is the budget of the era of the pandemic and unprecedented global crisis. Direct losses from external factors, which we cannot influence, are estimated at Br380 million," he said.
