Belarus can't make foreign debt payments because of Ukraine war sanctions

Belarus is unable to repay its foreign debt because of economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. and the European Union over its alliance with Russia in its war in Ukraine.

"The possibility of repaying debt obligations in foreign currency in the standard manner is currently limited due to the sanctions against Belarus," the country's finance ministry said Wednesday in a statement. 

The World Bank on Monday said it had put loans made by its main lending unit to Belarus into "nonperforming" status, effective immediately, due to past-due amounts of $68.4 million.