BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS
DATE:
24/11/2008
IMF to continue talks on Belarus loan in Dec
MINSK, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Belarus and the IMF have made good progress on talks for a $2 billion loan and negotiations will continue next month, the Belarussian central bank said on Monday.
Belarus has said it is seeking the loan as a precautionary measure against the global financial crisis and it hoped it would not use the loan should the global situation improve.
'The first stage of our work has been successfully completed,' the central bank said in a statement.
'Further talks, which will be of a technical nature, are expected in December of this year during the IMF mission's next visit to the Republic of Belarus,' it said.
Although the Belarussian economy has not yet experienced A direct impact from the global financial crisis, the central bank has followed neighbouring Russia and Ukraine in spending large amounts of reserves to shore up its currency.
'Belarus's aims in receiving the credit were to increase the state foreign currency reserves and to create a cushion of security,' the central bank said.
The International Monetary Fund said on Monday said it had made progress with Belarus, but did not give any details of the policy measures it required from the authorities.
'The Belarussian authorities and the (IMF) mission have reached significant progress and common understanding on policy measures for granting assistance to help Belarus overcome the current complex global situation,' it said in a statement.
Minsk has said that one condition of any loan demanded by the IMF was lower state spending. Fiscal prudence was the chief demand the IMF made on Ukraine, which has received its first tranche of a $16.5 billion standby loan.
The IMF had also demanded that Ukraine allows for greater currency flexibility and helps with recapitalisation of the banking sector and shores up independence of the central bank.
(Reporting by Andrei Makhovsky, writing by Sabina Zawadzki, editing by Victoria Main)
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