BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS
DATE:
29/10/2008
Belarus Moves Toward Open Economy As IMF Assesses $2 Billion Appeal
Belarus Moves Toward Open Economy As IMF Assesses $2 Billion Appeal
MOSCOW -(Dow Jones)- After they appealed for $2 billion from the International Monetary Fund, Belarus' central bankers are raising hopes that the country's government will open the economy up to more foreign investors and loosen the state's tight control.
"Belarus will move toward liberalizing the key economic policies," said the central bank's deputy head, Vasily Matyushevsky, who is meeting with delegates from the IMF.
Foreign investors are now able to own stakes of up to 50% in the country's banks after the government raised the limits in September, and a spokesman for the central bank said this limit could be lifted again shortly.
Belarus has appealed for IMF money in order to add to its foreign currency reserves, which it has burnt through by selling foreign exchange to local companies that need to pay suppliers abroad before getting payments for their exported goods.
"Changing conditions in trade have negatively affected the country's balance of payments," IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said before the delegation from the fund arrived in Minsk. He added that Belarus is also suffering from the lack of credit available abroad.
Ratings agency Standard & Poor's said in a report earlier this year that the liberalization of Belarus's economy had already begun.
It also said that the country's relatively low government debt - at 18% of gross domestic product - provides some security against the trade deficit that has grown with the cost of imported energy.
Source:
http://www.fxstreet.com/news/forex-news/article.aspx?StoryId=745ed01a-6902-43c8-b400-d78e22e10a10
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