Government expects National Bank’s refinance rate to decreased by half by year-end

The government expects the National Bank’s base refinance rate to decrease by half by the end of the year, Deputy Prime Minister Anatol Kalinin told reporters in Minsk on Tuesday.

Belarus will thus get close to the pre-crisis interest rates of loans for financing housing construction, that is, the lending terms that existed at the beginning of 2011, Mr. Kalinin said, noting that in 2010, regular housing loans carried interest rates of 14 to 19 percent.

The National Bank plans to lower its refinance rate from 45 to 43 percent on February 15. The rate was increased 12 times last year, from 10.5 to 45 percent.