English

Belarus needs $8-billion loan from IMF, economist says

The Belarusian government should apply to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a loan totaling some $8 billion to narrow a deficit in foreign trade that is projected to reach $12 billion this year, Stanislaw Bahdankevich, a former head of the National Bank of Belarus, said in an interview with BelaPAN on Wednesday.

The IMF must provide stabilization loans, which is one of its founding objectives, Mr. Bahdankevich said, noting that Belarus also had the right to ask it for funds “despite its dictatorship regime.”

Mr. Bahdankevich said that the IMF offered lucrative terms compared with other lenders, offering loans with a repayment period of between 15 and 17 years.

But the Belarusian government should back its loan request with a program of reforms, he said. “To start with, we should at least create equal conditions for state-run companies and private businesses so that they could compete fairly against each other,” he said. “And after that, we should try to stabilize the economic situation step by step with the help of reforms.”

If the authorities continue to print “valueless” banknotes, nothing will save the economy, Mr. Bahdankevich warned.