BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

28/11/2007

Belarus may overshoot 2007 inflation fcast-econmin

MINSK, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Belarus's inflation in 2007 is likely to exceed a government forecast of 8.0 percent but not by much, Economy Minister Nikolai Zaichenko said on Wednesday. "It's possible that (inflation) will be slightly above our forecast for this year. Inflation for the first 20 days of November was 0.9 percent," he said.

The consumer price index climbed to 7.0 percent in the first 10 months of the year. The ex-Soviet state has had to absorb a doubling of gas import prices to $100 per 1,000 cubic metres since the beginning of the year.

Last year, Belarus inflation came in at 6.6 percent. Belarus received its first credit ratings from international ratings agencies Standard & Poor's and Moody's in August. (Reporting by Andrei Makhovsky; writing by Sabina Zawdazki; editing by Ron Askew)

Source:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/feedarticle?id=7110825