OREANDA-NEWS. On July 12, 2007 the Chairman of the Board of the National Bank of Belarus, Pyotr Prokopovich, reported to the President of the Republic of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, on the performance of the country’s banking system in H1 2007, reported the Presidential website www.president.gov.by.

The country has met the main six-month targets set out in the Basic Guidelines of Monetary and Credit Policy for the current year. The Belarusian ruble remained stable throughout the period under review; its devaluation against the US dollar amounted to 0,2 percent, and that against the Russian ruble came to 2,43 percent; the Belarusian currency thus stayed within the projection figures. According to Pyotr Prokopovich, the stability of the Belarusian ruble is based on an effective economic performance.

The foreign currency earnings over the six months surged by 19,8 percent from the same period last year. Gold and foreign currency reserves climbed by $1.189 billion, having approached $3 billion and finally landed on $2,942 billion. This is a testament to the stability of the national currency, the Chairman of the Board of the National Bank said.

As a whole, Pyotr Prokopovich said, in H1 2007 the national banking system showed good results, and the National Bank has plans to continue pursuing its basic targets for this year.

The Head of State has been reported on the completion of the work on the first variant of the draft Basic Guidelines of Monetary and Credit Policy for 2008. This document takes the note of the country’s achievements gained in the previous years. Following the examination by the government, the document will be submitted to the President.