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IMF mission busy with final review of standby arrangement in Belarus

An IMF mission started working on the fourth review of the standby arrangement (SBA) in Belarus on 3 February. It is the final review. The mission will stay in Belarus till 16 February, BelTA learned from representatives of the IMF mission in Belarus.

IMF Resident Representative in Belarus Natalia Kolyadina told BelTA, the mission will assess the fulfillment of the standby arrangement and the achievement of its goals as of late December 2009. It will also evaluate the macroeconomic forecast for 2010. “It is likely to be corrected taking into account economic changes inside Belarus as well as the foreign economic situation,” she said.

The fiscal policy, monetary management and the foreign exchange rate policy will be scrutinized by the mission. The mission will pay close attention to the government’s intentions regarding structural changes, including the establishment of a financial development agency. The latter is supposed to take over the crediting of government programs. The mission will also consider matters of privatization, reduced crediting of government programs and other things.

“The first three reviews were successful. The SBA went well in this regard. We hope the fourth review will be successful,” said Natalia Kolyadina.

The initial 15-month SBA was approved on 12 January 2009. On 29 June 2009 the SBA-powered financial support was increased up to SDR2.27 billion (about $3.63 billion).

In January 2009 Belarus received the IMF loan’s first tranche of $800 million. The second tranche (around $680 million) came in July. In October 2009 Belarus received another IMF credit tranche to the tune of $699.5 million. The fourth tranche in excess of $688 million was transferred in December 2009. Thus, the total lending provided by the IMF is now close to $2.87 billion.