*3.3.3 Interbank lending*

There are opportunities here to use the acting exchange agreement for 20bn Yuan signed on March 11, 2009 by the National Bank of Belarus and the People's Bank of China to provide monthly, three-monthly, and six-monthly loans in Yuan. In addition, direct interbank unrelated loans are provided by Chinese banks for short-term trade finance purposes within open limits.

There is also an option to transform part of the interbank credit line, opened under the guarantee of the Government of Belarus on May 10, 2015 by China Development Bank for the Development Bank of Belarus, to the amount of \$700 m and \$300 m for Belarusbank to finance joint investment projects, into an unrelated loan. For example, on March 1, 2017, Belarusbank transformed part of this credit line by attracting an unrelated three-year loan of \$100 m from the China Development Bank. Later, on the basis of established cooperation, Belarusbank attracted a new unrelated loan of 100 m Euros from this Chinese bank under a government guarantee on April 24, 2019.

Of course, Chinese banks are interested in providing loans to the most reliable borrower in Chinese Yuan to enhance the internationalization of the latter. In this regard, on December 16, 2019, the China Development Bank provided an unrelated five-year loan to Belarus' Finance Ministry, to the amount of 3.5bn Yuan (around \$500 m).
