European Bank For Reconstruction And Development Ungraded Lukashenka’s Economy

The EBRD has made a disappointing forecast for Belarus.

It is noted in the May report of the authoritative international organization that the Belarusian economy will stay in stagnation in 2017, and the GDP growth will be no more than 0.5% by the end of the year, Salidarnasts writes.

Earlier, the EBRD forecasted a more significant growth - about 1%.

The low volume of Belarus' gold and currency reserves, as well as the increase of problem loans in the banking system, which amounted to more than 13%, made the experts worsen the forecast.

- In the light of these problems, we forecast that the economy of Belarus will decrease by 0.5% in 2017 and will return to the growth of 1% in 2018, the survey says.

At the same time, the EBRD forecasts growth of the Ukrainian economy by 2%.