BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

02/10/2007

Belarus denies plans to devalue currency

MINSK. Oct 2 (Interfax) - The head of Belarus' central bank dismissed on Tuesday allegations that the Belarusian ruble may be devalued soon and said the Belarusian currency "is stable and will remain so until the end of the year", because the country has "sufficient economic might."

"The exchange rate of the Belarusian ruble is set by the guidelines for monetary and lending policy and is being strictly maintained. The Belarusian ruble is stable and will remain so until the end of the year," National Bank Chief Executive Pyotr Prokopovich told reporters.

"We have sufficient gold and foreign currency reserves, and we have sufficient economic might, which makes it possible to keep the currency stable regardless of external factors," he said.

"We will try to maximally increase our gold and foreign currency reserves," Prokopovich said.

"In the next three years, we are to double our gold and foreign currency reserves, and they are to amount to no less than $6 billion by that period [2011]," he said.

Prokopovich confirmed that the refinancing rate for 2008 was to be set at between 7% and 9%. "The refinancing rate will stay within this range, it will depend on the rate of inflation and the state of the gold and foreign currency reserves," he said.

Prokopovich also confirmed that an annual inflation rate of 6% to 8% was planned for 2007. "There is no danger today that this level may be exceeded," he said.

Source:

http://www.interfax.com/3/319341/news.aspx