The financial system of the Belarusian state has become dependent on cheap Western loans. This problem will be resolved during today's visit to Minsk by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.
Moscow political scientist Vladimir Evseev stated this, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports, in a commentary to Izvestia.
According to him, Mishustin personally goes to Belarus to discuss refinancing of Russian loans previously issued to Minsk, since the issue is not so much economic as political.
The expert recalled that last year Minsk also turned to Russia for a loan of $600 million, which was needed to pay off Russian debts, but Moscow did not provide the loan then.
“The financial system of Belarus became dependent on Western cheap loans - most of the country’s banks took loans from the West, where they reinsured financial risks. Due to the current political situation in Belarus, EU countries stopped providing loans, and after them, Belarusian banks also stopped providing loans to the population,” the political scientist believes.
He believes that the main task of Russian credit now is to reduce the severity of the problem in order to prevent popular unrest.
“In addition, issues of technological chains will be touched upon - due to strikes at Belarusian factories, there were cases of non-fulfillment of contracts with Russia. Another topic for the meeting is the re-export of goods from the EU countries and Ukraine through Belarus and under the guise of Belarusian products to the Russian Federation. Moscow has raised this issue with Minsk for a long time, now is the right situation to resolve it,” Evseev emphasized.
He also added that the current state of affairs in Belarus contributes to negotiations on further integration within the Union State, since Minsk is now gradually abandoning cooperation with the West.
The expert also suggests that the redirection of cargo flows will begin in the near future: instead of the ports of Lithuania and Latvia, Belarus may reorient itself to Russian hubs, which will be more expensive, but in the current situation safer.