OREANDA-NEWS. On 03 September 2009 was announced, that International Monetary Fund (IMF) experts are satisfied with Belarus’ Stand-By Arrangement Performance, Director of the IMF’s European Department Marek Belka told reporters in Minsk.

“In general, we are satisfied, but talks are still underway, and I would not like to comment on results yet. We hope we will finish them successfully, complete the second review and earmark funds [the next tranche of the loan supported by the SBA],” Belka said.

Asked to share his forecast regarding Belarus’ performance in 2009, Head of the IMF mission to Belarus Chris Jarvis said the country had been affected by the global turmoil. “We believe this year will see a little drop in output,” he said.

Jarvis said the IMF kept working on specifying the forecast of Belarus’ economic slack in 2009, and added that the cutback could be less significant than elsewhere in the region.

“The economic policy of the Belarusian government and the National Bank helped mitigate the effects of the crisis. We believe the financial support of the Fund and our recommendations have also contributed to this,” Jarvis said.