OREANDA-NEWS. On July 14, 2009 President Alexander Lukashenko met with Pyotr Prokopovich, the Chairman of the Board of the National Bank of Belarus, to receive his report on the performance of the national banking system in the first half of the year 2009, reported the Official website president.gov.by.

Given the world financial and economic crisis, the main objectives in H1 2009 were to make sure the national banking system was stable and everything necessary was made to fuel the growth of the nation’s real production sector. These objectives were accomplished to the maximum, and all the main targets of the national monetary and credit policy for the first half of the year were met, said Pyotr Prokopovich.

The banking system is stable. Banks are increasing their capital and resource base. There are no “problem” banks in Belarus at all, said the Chairman of the Board of the National Bank.

The banking system is primarily focused on ensuring that the social and economic targets for the year 2009 are met. For this purpose, banks continue their aggressive lending policy providing loans and credits to businesses and organizations. As of 1 July, the total amount of loan debts across the national economy increased nearly 1.5 times from the same period last year.

The payment system is stable too. In January-June 2009, 1.6 times more payments were made than during the same period in 2008.

The President was also informed on the National Bank’s performance aimed at meeting the targets of the national monetary and credit policy. In H1 2009 the trading band for the Belarusian rouble against the currency basket was ±5 per cent, according to Pyotr Prokopovich. Although the band was widened to ±10 per cent, the Belarusian rouble is still traded within the ±5 per cent band. There is no need to go further than this limit in the near future, he said.

As for the national gold and hard currency reserves, they rose by more than US200 million in January-June 2009. The rise is modest but what is more important is the fact of growth per se, said Pyotr Prokopovich. The National Bank remains committed to increasing the national gold and hard currency reserves and ensuring the stability of the national currency this year.