IMF continues to finance Belarusian dictatorship

On October 21 the International Monetary Fund announced disbursing the second tranche of the loan of 699.5 mln dollars t Belarus.

It has been informed by BelaPAN with the reference to reports of BaltInfo reporter from Washington. Thus, the total sum of the money sent to the Belarusian side was 2.23 billion dollars.

On January 12, 2009 the IMF executive board approved granting to Belarus a loan of 2.46 billion dollars (420% of quote for this country in the IMF) for reform program realization planned for 15 months (until April 2010). In June the sum of the credit was increased to 3.63 billion dollars.

As a part of stand-by loan Belarus has already received about 1.5 billion dollars at LIBOR +0.75% annually, and the rest of the sum is to be given considering quarterly reports of the Belarusian government.

The IMF program of reforms coordinated with the government of Belarus envisages liberalization of economy, in particular, price formation (transition to the national currency peg to the basket of currencies after preliminary one-time devaluation by 20%) and strict inhibition of home demand, plus by the way of budget expenses restriction, including minimization of state support to banks and decrease of salaries growth pace in non-productive sphere.

After discussing by the IMF Executive board the issue of giving another tranche, IMF Deputy Managing Director Takatoshi Kato said that the country reached a considerable progress in adjusting its polity in response to the global crisis.

Though export has decreased considerably, the economic slump was not so great compared with other countries affected by the crisis, he said. “The adjustment has been supported by a tight fiscal policy, with revenue shortfalls offset by spending cuts” he said.