April 7 (SeeNews) - Montenegro's government said it has approved the borrowing of 80 million euro ($85.1 million) from Credit Suisse, London Branch to finance budget spending in 2017.
The loan carries an interest rate of 3.9 percentage points above the benchmark three-month Euribor, the Montenegrin government said in a statement on Thursday.
The loan will be disbursed in two tranches, of 50 million euro and 30 million euro, respectively, with 38,477 ounces of gold to serve as collateral, Montenegrin public broadcaster Radio Televizija Crne Gore (RTCG) reported.
The government decided in January to take out loans with a combined value of 450 million euro from domestic and foreign banks to finance budget deficit in 2017.
In December, the Montenegrin government said it expects a budget deficit equivalent to 6.1% of GDP in 2017 and 3.6% in 2019, while public debt is forecast to rise to 77.5% of GDP in 2019 before starting to decline.
The consolidated revenues in Montenegro's 2017 budget are projected at 1.552 billion euro, while expenditures are expected to reach 1.785 billion euro. The budget deficit is forecast at 233.9 million euro.
($ = 0.940351 euro)