A delegation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will arrive in Minsk on May 12 to study prospects for further cooperation with the country.
As the IMF office in Belarus told BelaPAN, the team, led by Chris Jarvis, will stay in Minsk through May 25.
The mission’s talks with the Belarusian authorities will focus on the country’s social and economic development and monetary and fiscal policies. The IMF experts will review the institution’s macroeconomic forecast for Belarus and also consider its currency exchange rate policy.
In an interview with Reuters on May 4, Alyaksandr Lukashenka said that Minsk would not apply for a new IMF loan amid the country’s economic recovery but would like to receive economic policy advice from the institution’s experts.
"We are not asking the IMF for loans. The IMF, the World Bank have declared that Belarus has exited the stage of recession. We have no problems with the budget today. That is why we are not requesting additional loans from the IMF," the Belarusian leader said.
"We will cooperate with them but this cooperation has taken the form of advisory services," he added.
In late March, Belarus obtained $670 million in the last tranche of a $3.44-billion stand-by loan from the IMF.
The National Bank of Belarus said that the stand-by loan "played a key role in the stabilization of Belarus’ economy in 2009 and at the beginning of 2010, made it possible to maintain stability in the foreign exchange market, increase the sustainability of the financial system and keep up the trust of investors and households."
