The International Monetary Fund predicts that the decline in GDP in Belarus will be even greater than previously expected. According to the new assessment of the Fund, it will fall at the end of this year by 3.6%.
The new forecast is contained in the report the IMF World Economic Outlook for October, BelaPAN reports. IMF experts expect that in 2016 the recession in the Belarusian economy will continue, and the country's GDP will decline by 2.2%. Five years later, analysts say, the economic activity may experience a revival - in 2020 the GDP growth is expected at 1.6%.
Inflation in Belarus this year is expected to reach 16.9%.
Compared with the assessment that IMF experts gave in April this year, the forecast has worsened. Now the Fund expects greater decline, although earlier it was predicted that this year's GDP will fall by 2.3%.
Meanwhile, the official outlook predicts the GDP growth of 0.2-0.7%.
During his visit to the United States, Aliaksandr Lukashenka, met with the head of the IMF, Christine Lagarde, and discussed with her a new program of cooperation.
