Zaika: Russia can raise salaries instead of making loan to Belarus

Economist Leanid Zaika says Russia's decision to withhold a $500-million installment of a $2-billion loan is based on financial considerations rather than on political ones.

 


"Russia is short of cash. As my Russian colleagues told me, $500 million would be enough to raise salaries to civil servants by six percent," he told ERB.

 

Russian Finance Minister Aleksei Kudrin said on October 5 that the Kremlin may approve loans to Serbia and Bulgaria. Zaika says that Moscow still has doubts about the Belarusian government's ability to pay off loans.