MINSK, 22 October (BelTA) – Belarus is not in talks on the new program with the International Monetary Fund now, Deputy Chairman of the Board of the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus (NBRB) Dmitry Kalechits told the media at the international banking information technology forum BankIT on 22 October, BelTA has learned.
“I will not comment on these things; these matters are not being discussed with the International Monetary Fund right now,” Dmitry Kalechits said when asked about the terms of resuming talks on the new program with the IMF.
The Belarusian delegation was in Washington on 16-18 October to participate in annual meetings of the boards of governors of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group (WBG). “During the visit we discussed the macroeconomic situation in the country and the forecasts for the coming years. An IMF mission will come to Belarus next week. At the meeting with the IMF experts we will specify again our assessments related to the current situation and the forecast. An Article IV consultation mission is set to come at the beginning of next year,” Dmitry Kalechits said. When asked to provide more details of the meeting with the IMF, he added: “We discussed only the assessment of the common economic policy and technical assistance”.
Earlier, Belarus' Finance Minister Maksim Yermolovich said that during the meeting in Washington Belarus planned to take stock of the government's efforts to stabilize the macroeconomic situation and to discuss the possibility to launch a program with the IMF to support the structural reforms.
