MINSK, 1 February (BelTA) - The Russian government has submitted a protocol to the State Duma to amend the Russian-Belarusian agreement on the state export loan to Belarus to build a nuclear power plant, TASS reported.
The explanatory note reads that Belarus has previously requested a review of the loan repayment terms citing such reasons as the fall in oil and gas prices and the postponement of the commissioning of units No.1 and No.2 of the nuclear power plant from 2018 to 2022. The protocol was signed on 14 July 2020.
The protocol envisages some terms for restructuring the Belarusian obligations such as the extension of the loan use period until the end of 2022, the postponement of the grace period on the principal from 1 April 2021 to 1 April 2023 and the replacement of the current mixed interest rate on the loan with the fixed interest rate of 3.3% per annum.
"The current interest rate is comparable to the cost of borrowing by the Russian Federation on the international capital market for a similar period," the explanatory note reads.
