Armenia and Russia are holding informal negotiations on allocating a loan to the amount of $1 billion, Armenian media reported. Yerevan is ready to accept the money at a fairly high rate of interest, despite the fact the government has not paid off Moscow's previous loan.
According to the information, Yerevan's desire to get a loan is connected with the upcoming presidential elections in February 2013. Earlier, Armenia was going to draw $1.5 billion at the Brussels summit, but this did not happen.
According to the experts, the advisability of attracting new loans is not clear. The external debt hit a big share in the structure of Armenia's public debt. This year, the country's debt to international lenders was 36.1 per cent of the GDP. The debt is expected to increase to 36.6 per cent by late 2012 reaching $4 billion.
In June 2009, Moscow provided Yerevan with a loan of $500 million for 15 years. The money was spent to support the country's economy during its crisis.