Belarus' external debt decreased by 1.7 percent in the first half of 2018, the Belarusian Finance Ministry said on Tuesday.

As of July 1, 2018, Belarus' external debt stood at 16.4 billion U.S. dollars, down by 288.2 million U.S. dollars or 1.7 percent from the beginning of the year, the ministry said.

From January to June 2018, Belarus attracted external state borrowing totaling 1.226 billion U.S. dollars and spent 1.423 billion U.S. dollars on repaying its external debt.

The internal government debt totaled 9.3 billion Belarusian rubles (about 4.68 billion U.S. dollars) as of July 1, up by 80.2 million Belarusian rubles (about 40.41 million U.S. dollars) or 0.9 percent from the beginning of the year.