The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has already transferred more than $600 million to Belarus as part of the second tranche of its stand-by loan for the country, Anatol Drazdow, spokesman for the National Bank of Belarus, told BelaPAN on Thursday noon.
"The money is coming from different banks. The entire amount of the $679.2-million tranche is expected to arrive during the day," he said.
The IMF Executive Board on June 29 increased the amount of the loan for Belarus to about $3.52 billion, more than $1 billion more than it had initially committed to the country, and approved the disbursement of the second tranche to the country. The revised arrangement will support the government’s economic program and help Belarus contain the effects of a greater than expected impact of the global financial crisis, the IMF said in a statement.
To reduce the resulting financing gap, the authorities will maintain a balanced budget in 2009, despite lower revenues; keep monetary policy adequately tight; allow more exchange rate flexibility within a fluctuation band which is now plus/minus 10 percent around the parity rate; and deepen structural reforms, the Fund said.
The IMF told the Belarusian government to take stronger efforts to liberalize the economy and prepare for privatization. The international organization made available some $787.9 million for Belarus in January and said that "the remainder will be phased thereafter, subject to quarterly reviews."
