MINSK, 6 February (BelTA) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) hopes to finish negotiations on privatizing the Belarusian bank Belinvestbank within several weeks, BelTA learned from EBRD President Suma Chakrabarti on 6 February.
Suma Chakrabarti said: “We've been negotiating investments in Belinvestbank's capital for several years and are about to reconcile the share of our investments. We have already begun the final phase of negotiations on the deal with the government. Due to this stage of preparations we hope to really finish the negotiations within the next several weeks.”
In his opinion, if the EBRD becomes a Belinvestbank shareholder, it will ultimately have an effect on efforts to bring a strategic investor to this bank in particular and to Belarus' banking industry and state-run enterprises as a whole. Suma Chakrabarti believes that the pilot privatization deal will be an example for all the consequent deals.
As for deals involving state-owned enterprises, the EBRD is participating in projects to prepare the brewery Krinitsa and the woodworking company Vitebskdrev for privatization. “We are talking about commercializing these enterprises. Bringing a strategic investor is the ultimate goal. We've agreed with the Belarus president that we will work on these deals on a case-by-case basis,” Suma Chakrabarti added.
BelTA reported earlier that the in 2015 the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Belarus government signed a memorandum of understanding on privatizing the public joint-stock company (OAO) Belinvestbank. On 6 February Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Rumas stated that the Belarusian side is interested in working out optimal conditions for the Belinvestbank privatization deal to the satisfaction of all the parties involved.
The EBRD is a multilateral bank fostering the development of the private sector and entrepreneurship initiatives in 38 economies on three continents. The bank's shareholders are 69 countries as well as the European Union and the European Investment Bank (EIB). Since the EBRD began working in Belarus in 1992, the bank has invested nearly €2.9 billion in 130 projects in various branches of the national economy. In 2019 the EBRD set a new record in its work in Belarus: the bank invested over €390 million in 24 projects in the private sector and the public one.