Belarus wasted $900 mln on unprofitable cement plants

On May 21, the National Legal Internet Portal published the presidential decree No. 181 so much needed for the financial rehabilitation of the unprofitable enterprises like Belarusian Cement Plant, Krichevcementnoshifer and Krasnoselskstroymaterialy. These plants will be reimbursed from the state budget for the principal amount paid in 2015–2019, the interest paid, commissions and other payments on loans (Appendix 1), as well as interest accrued by the Ministry of Finance before 2019.

The decree also mentions specific amounts of loans allocated to these unprofitable cement plants in 2015-2019:

820.7 million dollars;
200 million yuan;
89.8 million rubles;
9.8 million euros;
21,126 million Russian rubles.

The total sum is almost 900 million US dollars, and this is only for three enterprises over the 5 years. Of these, $ 549,883,769.74 is accounted for by Chinese loans.

The cement industry in Belarus, despite the funds invested in the modernization, has long been generating losses. For example, Krichevcementnoshifer has suffered losses for six years in a row. For example, in 2018, the losses increased by 2.5 times to 157 million rubles. At the same time the net loss of the the Belarusian Cement Plant amounted to 86 million rubles. The plant has suffered net losses since 2015, and by the beginning of 2019 the loss of the cement facility reached 182.5 million rubles.