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Authorities to raise possibility of new loan during IMF team's stay in Minsk

Representatives of the National Bank of Belarus (NBB) plan to discuss the possibility of a new loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) with the Fund's experts who arrived in Minsk on March 14, the government's news agency BelTA reported with reference to NBB head Nadzeya Yermakova.

The experts are to hold post-program monitoring discussions with the Belarusian authorities as part of the fourth review of the country’s stand-by arrangement (SBA) that expired in April 2010, BelaPAN said.

"Of course, the possibility of a new loan will be brought up," the official was quoted as saying. She added that the matter "comes up" during every round of talks with IMF representatives, but the latter "sidestep it nicely" every time.

Ms. Yermakova stressed that Belarus repaid the loan provided under the stand-by arrangement on schedule. She reiterated that a new IMF loan was not of critical importance to the country.

The IMF experts will stay in Belarus until March 25 to hold discussions with officials representing Belarus' government and the NBB on the country's macroeconomic, fiscal and monetary policies, as well as on economic development prospects.

The 15-month, SDR1.62 billion (about $2.46 billion) arrangement was approved by the IMF Executive Board on January 12, 2009. On June 29, 2009, the IMF financial support under the SBA was increased to SDR2.27 billion (about $3.52 billion).

Speaking to reporters on February 20, NBB head Nadzeya Yermakova predicted that Belarus would hardly manage to secure a fresh IMF loan within the next 12 to 24 months.

Decisions on loans for specific countries are made by the IMF Executive Board, which gives priority to political considerations, she said.