MOSCOW. April 12 (Interfax) - Roscosmos plans in the near future to tap loans totaling several tens of billions of rubles, Maxim Ovchinnikov, the state corporation's first deputy general director for economics and finance, said during an interview with Interfax.
"In the near future, it [the loan burden] will increase because we have a number of programs that require the borrowing of funds," Ovchinnikov said.
The first deputy general director said that Roscosmos expects its loan burden to grow from the current 85 billion rubles to 100-120 billion rubles.
Ovchinnikov noted that one of the programs that would require additional financing is the deployment of the GLONASS global navigation satellite system.
"In order to maintain the group in the required condition, it has been decided, in agreement with the government, to tap loans in 2021-2023, given that the budget simply does not currently have the funds in order to provide the necessary monies," the first deputy general director added.
Meantime, Roscosmos plans to repay the loans after 2027, when the funds are expected to be allocated to the space program for this, Ovchinnikov noted.
"Consequently, the loan portfolio should grow nominally, though we are simultaneously doing everything to ensure that the portfolio receives sources in the future," Ovchinnikov stressed.
According to Ovchinnikov, Roscosmos currently spends around nine billion rubles per year to service the loan.