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Ministry suggests liberalizing low-interest loan system for rural tourism businesses

The Ministry of Sports and Tourism suggests simplifying the requirements for rural tourism businesses to obtain low-interest loans from Belahraprambank and increasing the amount of loans available to such businesses, Vadzim Karmazin, a departmental head at the ministry, told reporters in Minsk on Tuesday.

At present providers of agro- and ecotourism services can take out Belarusian rubel loans that carry an annual interest rate of five percent and have a repayment period of seven years, Mr. Karmazin said.

In 2009, borrowing requirements were made stricter by order of the State Control Committee, he said. In particular, loan applicants were required to report their current and not projected incomes, he said.

"To get a loan of 200 million rubels [$700,000], the owner of a villa needed to have a pay of 10.5 million rubels [$3,700]," Mr. Karmazin said. As a result, only 18 such loans have been issued this year, down from 32 in 2011 and 193 in 2008, he said.

Mr. Karmazin expressed hope that measures would be taken to remedy the situation.

About 30 percent of the owners of rural tourism businesses have taken out low-interest loans since they became available in 2007, he said. //BelaPAN