Leanid Zaika: “IMF loan is poor consolation. Confidence to Belarusian ruble is destroyed”

The loan from the International Monetary Fund will be not enough for Belarus, independent experts believe/

The executive bureau of the IMF has decided to give Belarus a stabilization loan of about 2.5 billion dollars. The aim of this action is to help the country to overcome aftermaths of the crisis.

The head of “Strategy” analytical centre Leanid Zaika has stated to Radio Svaboda” to revive a foreign credit, the authorities have sacrificed welfare of the nation.

“That is because with the help of devaluation one billion dollars has been seized from the people overnight. To seize a billion to receive two and a half billion dollar credit, one should have an amazing love for one’s people,” he stated.

Leanid Zaika notes that the financial side of the IMF decision should not be overstated.

“The loan has primarily the psychological meaning, to show the population that ruble exchange rate can be stable. But it is a poor consolation. It is poor because a great mistake has been done, confidence to the Belarusian ruble has been destroyed. Previously people were told that all deposits would be safe, everything is alright, and we have a wonderful monetary policy,” the economist is convinced.

The former head of the National Bank Professor Stanislau Bahdankevich agrees that this loan is extremely necessary for Belarus, and confirmed that by concrete figures.

“There are only 3 billion dollars of gold and currency reserves left for January 1. And commercial banks have one and a half billion dollars in minus. That means that there are about 1.5-1.6 billion dollars of real reserves. And it is extremely little. It is necessary to have at least 10 billion of them,” the Professor said.

The first tranche of stabilization loan from the IMF (787.9 million dollars) is expected by Minsk on January 14. The rest of the sum is to be transferred over 15 months according to monthly reviews.