Belarus, Russia settle technicalities on Vnesheconombank’s loan for BelNPP

Belarus and Russia have discussed major technical details of the loan agreement between Vnesheconombank and Belarus. The agreement provides that Vnesheconombank will grant Belarus up to $500 million to finance advance payments on the construction of the Belarusian nuclear power plant, BelTA learnt from the press service of Bank BelVEB.

A delegation of Vnesheconombank of Russia was in Belarus on 26-27 December. The delegation met with senior officials of the Belarusian Finance Ministry, Bank BelVEB, and the Directorate for Nuclear Power Plant Construction to discuss the loan agreement between Vnesheconombank and Belarus.

“The major technicalities have already been settled. We discussed domestic procedures on the loan agreement, its conclusion and enforcement, advance payments and control over the use of the loan. Signing such an agreement requires scrupulous work, the adjustment of all the legal norms and the completion of the necessary domestic procedures,” explained Pavel Kallaur, Chairman of the Board of Bank BelVEB. He underlined that at the level of experts there was willingness to get everything ready as fast as possible.

On 19 December the Supervisory Board of Vnesheconombank (VEB) decided in favor of opening a credit line of up to $500 million for the Belarus government. The money will be available for a period of up to eight years and can be used to finance some of the advance payments needed as part of the project to build the Belarusian nuclear power plant.

Belarus and Russia signed the general contract to build the Belarusian nuclear power plant in July 2012. The cost of building is primarily covered by a state export loan granted by Russia. In line with the relevant intergovernmental agreement the loan can provide up to $10 billion for 25 years to cover 90% of the cost of every contract between the Russian company ZAO Atomstroyexport and the Belarusian state institution Directorate for Nuclear Power Plant Construction. Russia’s Vnesheconombank and Belarus’ BelVEB Bank are the agent banks in charge of servicing the loan.

By 30 December 2013, Bank BelVEB had issued letters of credit worth $8.26 billion in favor of Atomstroyexport upon the instruction of the Directorate for Nuclear Power Plant Construction.

The Belarusian nuclear power plant will have two power-generating units with the total capacity of up to 2,400MW (1,200MW each). It will be built using the Russian design AES-2006, which is compliant with international norms and IAEA recommendations. The merged company OAO NIAEP – Atomstroyexport (ASE) is the general designer and general contractor of the project.