A Chinese bank agreed on Tuesday to lend Belarus over $1 billion to fund industrial and transportation projects, the Belarussian government said after the signing ceremony.
China's Export-Import Bank (Eximbank) will give over $650 million to expand a cellulose plant in Svetlogorsk to produce bleached cellulose in a project together with China's CAMC Engineering.
The loan may be repaid in part "by delivering extra cellulose" produced at the plant to China, said Belarussian Deputy Prime Minister Anatoly Tozik, according to the government website.
The bank will also lend $340 million for the reconstruction of a 70-kilometre (43 miles) section of highway between the towns of Zlobin and Gomel. Another $64 million will go towards electrification of a railway in the same area.
The loan comes as the cash-strapped ex-Soviet state is struggling to control A gaping current account deficit and its people are confronted with rising consumer prices and savings hit by a sweeping devaluation of the ruble.
del.icio.us
Digg
Reddit
Google
