China Development Bank provides loan for Oversized Tire Factory Reconstruction Project (Linked to Project ID#66783)

On May 10, 2015, China Development Bank opened a $300 million credit line with Belarusbank — a state-owned bank — to finance an unspecified set of infrastructure projects in Belarus (captured in Project ID#66783). CDB subsequently approved a subsidiary loan under this credit line to support the Belshina Oversized Tire Factory Reconstruction Project. The face value and borrowing terms of the loan are unknown. Belarusbank on-lent the proceeds of the CDB loan to a state-owned company called JSC Belshina [ОАО «Белшина» or Belshina OJSC]. JSC Belshina then used the loan proceeds to purchase equipment from a Chinese firm. The first loan disbursement took place in April 2016. The oversized tires that are produced by JSC Belshina support 450-ton BelAz dump trucks. The tires are produced at a factory in the industrial city of Babruysk (Bobruisk).

Additional details

The Russian project title is реконструкция Завода крупногабаритных шин на Белшине. The CDB loan that supported this project is not included in the Overseas Development Finance Dataset published by Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center in December 2020. The Government of Belarus has a 99.95% ownership stake in JSC Belshina, which is now one of the five largest tire manufacturers in the world (and was the largest tire factory in the Soviet Union).

Number of official sources

6

Number of total sources

10