China has extended $3 billion credit to Belarussian companies and $4 billion in commercial credit to Belarussian banks for financing business projects, Economy Minister Vladimir Zinovsky said on Monday.
The credits, which appeared to include $1 billion of loans to two banks announced on Sunday, were part of a raft of deals resulting from President Xi Jinping visit to Minsk, Moscow and Almaty.
At the same time, the Belarussian central bank announced a three-year currency swop agreement which will put 7 billion yuan (about $1.1 billion) into its reserves and help with foreign debt repayments of $4 billion due this year.The former Soviet republic's economy has been badly hurt by currency volatility in Russia arising from the Ukraine crisis and a plunge in the price of oil. The International Monetary Fund forecasts the economy shrinking 2 percent this year.Zinovsky, quoted by the national news agency BelTA, said the $3 billion credit to firms would be on favourable terms and the $4 billion to banks would be earmarked for financing business projects. China and Belarus on Sunday also signed a five-year potash supply memorandum though volumes and prices were not disclosed.
