Belgium will buy the Belgian banking business of Dexia for 4 billion euros ($5.4 billion) and provide the bulk of guarantees to cover leftover assets of the parent group, the Belgian government said on Monday.

Belgium would provide 60.5 percent of guarantees to cover 90 billion euros of assets, Belgium's prime minister Yves Leterme told a news conference.

(Reporting By Robert-Jan Bartunek; writing by Philip Blenkinsop)