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Belarus is looking for the possibility of attracting external financial resources to fight the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, Finance Minister Maxim Ermolovich told the country's parliament on Thursday.
He said Belarus will ask international organizations for a total of about 2 billion U.S. dollars to help relieve economic impact of the pandemic.
The East European country will concentrate its efforts on negotiating with the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the European Investment Bank, the minister said.
Belarus will also try to attract loans from the Eurasian Development Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. The country needs money to support healthcare institutions as well as small and medium-sized businesses, Ermolovich said.
Earlier, Belarusian government asked the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to provide up to 1 billion U.S. dollars. Through large state-owned banks, the country is going to support enterprises during the economic crisis amid the coronavirus pandemic.
On April 15, Finance Ministry said Belarus relies on loans from the World Bank, or 90 million euros (about 97.6 million U.S. dollars) and the European Investment Bank (50 million euros) to combat COVID-19.
Belarus also expects the IMF to consider Belarus' application for a "quick" financing by the end of April due to the worsening global economic situation. This is an amount equivalent to approximately 900 million U.S. dollars.