‘Lukashenka Struggles With Chronic Illness’

Which forces him to go around with an outstretched hand.

Finance Minister Yury Seliverstau announced that Minsk and Moscow had agreed on refinancing loans from the Russian government under "separate agreements." Zerkalo examined how much Lukashenka owes his neighboring country.

Authorities still do not sisclose the scale of national debt

Yury Seliverstau recently stated that Minsk had reached an agreement with Moscow for the refinancing of certain loans—meaning new loans would be issued to repay old ones. The official did not specify whether this referred to payments scheduled for this year or a more extensive restructuring.

Such concessions from Moscow are crucial for the government, as Belarus currently faces significant repayment obligations for previously taken loans. The majority of these payments are owed to Russia.

Exactly how much the government borrows and what the current national debt of Belarus is remains unknown because the Ministry of Finance has been concealing this information since 2022. Some details have been revealed through officials' statements. However, another source for this information exists—the World Bank (WB) database. At the end of 2024, data emerged showing that Belarus' national debt in 2023 amounted to $15.47 billion. Of this, $7.75 billion was owed to Russia.

In March last year, Aliaksandr Lukashenka stated that the national debt exceeded 32% of the GDP.

How much Minsk must pay this year

In 2025, Belarus needs to allocate around 10 billion rubles for debt repayment. Another 5 billion rubles will go toward servicing the debt, meaning interest payments. Most of these debts were originally issued in foreign currency. Therefore, if converted to dollars at the National Bank’s exchange rate as of April 9, the amount stands at approximately $4.76 million.

This is a record sum that Minsk must return within a year. For example, in 2021, national debt payments were planned at 7.98 billion rubles, whereas by 2024, this figure had risen to 12.57 billion.

According to World Bank estimates, payments on the principal debt to Russia for this year were set at $527.2 million, while servicing costs were projected at $1.5 billion. Thus, the Belarusian Ministry of Finance owes more than $2 billion to Russia alone.

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