The EBRD plans to increase the volume of financing projects in Belarus in 2018, said Alexander Pivovarsky, head of the representative office of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in Belarus.
"Our loan portfolio in Belarus is currently about 500 million euros, I hope it will become more significant by the end of this year." In 2017, the volume of operations in Belarus amounted to 163 million euros (by 40 million euros more than in 2016). Our goal is to continue to grow and approach the level that was before the crisis of 2014, this is 250 million euros, "said the head of the EBRD office.
At the same time, he specified that if there are good projects, the amount of funding may be more. Alexander Pivovarsky explained that the growth of financing in Belarus is expected due to several factors: first, the EBRD is increasing operations in the private sector, and secondly, major projects are planned in terms of privatization and public-private partnership. In particular, the EBRD is waiting for the completion of transactions on Moscow-Minsk Bank and Krasnoselskstroimaterialy.
Speaking about the implementation of the project in the field of PPP - the reconstruction of the M10 highway, the head of the EBRD office noted that the Belarusian government should approve it in the near future.
"And we hope to hold a launch event in London in a couple of months, which is important, it can attract resources that are simply not available in Belarus today." If you look at a range of potential stakeholders, they are from different regions. For example, companies from Turkey, Brazil have already showed their interest. This will be a new source of financing infrastructure in the country,” said Alexander Pivovarsky.
Moreover, EBRD participates in the implementation of a sovereign project for the reconstruction of the P80 highway. "This will be one of the first sovereign projects that take place under the new strategy of the bank." Earlier we did not have so many opportunities to work with the public sector of Belarus, "said Alexander Pivovarsky.
He added that there is no exact date for signing this project, but it is planned that this will happen in the near future. The head of the EBRD's office in Belarus also said that the bank is planning several interesting projects in the municipal sector.
"We are now discussing interesting projects in Minsk, and we have a significant project with Minsk Vodokanal, which we want to do together with the European Investment Bank." In addition, we plan to complete the project on energy efficiency of residential buildings in the Belarusian capital in half a year, " he said.
EBRD plans to implement the first projects in Belarusian rubles in 2018. "One of the memorandums that we signed with the Belarusian government in 2017 concerns the financing of projects in Belarusian rubles, and we hope that this year we will be able to finance the economy of Belarus in its national currency for the first time," said Alexander Pivovarsky.
According to him, this can be done in two ways. First, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development will provide its guarantees for the implementation of certain projects in Belarusian rubles. The second way is that EBRD will begin to attract credit lines from Belarusian banks in national currency.
"International companies are already applying to us who would like to receive financing from us in Belarusian rubles, and credit lines attracted from Belarusian banks could solve this issue," he stressed.
The head of the EBRD's office explained that the companies that invest in projects on the Belarusian market are mostly interested. "They take loans, for example, in euros, and here they get income in rubles, and if there are any changes in the foreign exchange market, they have currency risks. Now there are not so many such companies, but I think their number will grow ", he said.
At the same time, Alexander Pivovarsky said that the EBRD intends to stimulate projects with financing in Belarusian rubles. According to him, interest in the Belarusian ruble is caused, among other things, by its stability in recent times.
"Initially, we will work with small amounts to test whether we will be able to work with rubles." There may be some legal or other restrictions that we need to verify, but eventually all this will develop. "In the medium term, we can even issue domestic bonds in local currency, " he concluded.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is the largest institutional investor in the Belarusian economy. The total volume of transactions for the entire period of cooperation is close to 2 billion euros.
Based on BelTA
На основе БелТА