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Loan interest rates to be lowered in Belarus this year

Interest rates on loans will be reduced in Belarus, Mikalay Luzhin, first deputy head of the National Bank of Belarus, said at a meeting of the industry ministry's top officials in Minsk on February 2.

He described high interest rates as a forced measure and said that manufacturing enterprises understood that. "We will be lowering interest rates this year," he promised, adding that the National Bank was likely to cut its base refinance rate in February.

Acknowledging that some banks were lowering interest rates on individuals' rubel deposits, Mr. Luzhin warned that it would be done with great caution in order to avoid "breaking the relative stabilization that we have achieved recently."

The amount of loans to be issued by banks to the industrial sector is projected to rise by 17 to 23 percent this year. "This almost matches the projected inflation rate, which means that we will have roughly the same lending resources as last year. That's why one will have to use these loans in a very thrifty manner," Mr. Luzhin said. //BelaPAN