Belarus is looking at China, Russia or other external markets to place $600 million in bonds in 2018 to help refinance its growing debt, its deputy Finance Minister said on Wednesday. Maksim Ermolovich said Belarus also plans to issue $400 million in bonds on the domestic market next year. Belarus owes $2.5 billion to creditors in 2018, of which Minsk plans to repay $800 million and refinance another $1.7 billion.
"We are planning to get about a billion dollars by issuing bonds, $600 million on the external ... $400 million in the domestic market," Ermolovich said at a public conference. Belarus is considering issuing bonds on the Chinese market or placing bonds denominated in Russian rubles, he said.