Sberbank of Russia is ready to participate in privatization processes in Belarus

March 10, Minsk /Lyudmila Sats - BELTA/. Sberbank of Russia is ready to participate in privatization processes in Belarus. This was stated by Chairman of the Board of Sberbank of Russia German Gref today at a meeting with Prime Minister of Belarus Mikhail Myasnikovich, according to a BELTA correspondent. "We are ready to increase our presence here, to actively participate in privatization processes," said German Gref. He recalled that Sberbank of Russia has established an investment company in Belarus. "Therefore, structurally, we are ready for this. I think with our experience we can be useful to Belarus," the head of Sberbank noted. In general, German Gref positively assesses the results of BPS-Bank's performance over the year and a half it has been operating as a subsidiary bank of Sberbank of Russia. "We are ahead of schedule in all areas of our agreements. This applies to the development of leasing and our financing here," German Gref noted. A number of agreements with Sberbank have already been successfully implemented. For example, with the participation of Sberbank, Belarus placed Eurobonds. Now Belarus has the status of a borrower and its own credit history. Sberbank of Russia participated in the placement of Belarus's Eurobonds in 2010-2011 for $1.8 billion and Belarus's bonds in the Russian market. As a result of Sberbank of Russia's support in 2010, BPS-Bank OJSC attracted seven times more foreign resources than in 2009. The volume of such funds amounted to $1.34 billion in equivalent terms. In addition, the Belarusian bank's international credit ratings were raised, and they are currently the highest possible for financial and credit institutions of the Republic of Belarus. This contributed to an increase in the scale of the bank's international activities by more than three times. Sberbank of Russia is the leading bank in Central and Eastern Europe. According to the results of 2010, it is among the ten most profitable banks in the world. Together with Sberbank of Russia, a number of projects in the field of trade finance using letters of credit have been implemented, with the total volume of such operations in 2010 amounting to $235.3 million. -0-