BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

02/12/2008

Russia's Sberbank eyes Belarus, Minsk welcomes it

MINSK, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Russia's largest bank, Sberbank, is considering entering the Belarussian market, a move that would be welcomed by the authorities, the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, was quoted as saying on Tuesday.

"There are absolutely no obstacles today for your bank's work in Belarus," Lukashenko was cited by Belarussian state news agencies as saying at a meeting with Sberbank Chief Executive German Gref.

"At a time of a financial crisis, we are trying to look for additional resources to support our domestic currency and to support our economy ... It is important for us to receive resources from the Russian Federation, from the central bank of Russia, to which you are directly linked," he said.

Gref said any move into Belarus by Sberbank -- a giant state savings bank during the Soviet era -- would be as "a strategic partner" and that under current conditions entering any new country is a "significant event".

"We are starting work with the central bank to find a way of entering the Belarussian market. This will be either through opening a new bank or acquiring an existing bank," he said.

Belarus sold stakes in some small- and medium-sized banks to Russian banks last year. This year it registered some foreign banks in Belarus and wanted to sell a controlling stake in the country's largest bank to Commerzbank.

Belarus last week said it would almost double the capital of a large bank, Belagroprombank, by $1 billion and is ready to spend $500 million on raising the capital of other banks.

Meanwhile, Belarus, which is seeking a $2 billion loan from the IMF, has not yet been hit by the global financial crisis as its economy is still largely controlled by the state.

The central bank has been selling dollars, sapping 11 percent in September and 4 percent October from its reserves, to prop up the currency.

The Belarussian rouble has been pegged to the dollar in a range of between 2,100 and 2,200. On Tuesday, its rate was 2,168, weaker than a recommended floor of 2,150. Next year the central bank aims to manage the rouble within a small basket of currencies. (Reporting by Andrei Makhovsky; writing by Sabina Zawadzki; Editing by Andrew Macdonald)

Source:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/8110248

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