OREANDA-NEWS. November 17, 2009. The National Bank of Belarus (NBB) hopes to receive the next tranche of the IMF loan under an SBA-supported program in December 2009, NBB Governor Petr Prokopovich told reporters in Minsk.

“All performance indicators as of October 1, 2009 were met, including gold and foreign exchange reserves, net international reserves, internal reserves and deficit-free budget,” Prokopovich said.

“We hope to receive a new tranche in December, unless the IMF Board of Directors takes a Christmas break too soon,” he added.

The Belarusian government has not applied to the IMF for a new Stand-By Arrangement to follow the current program.

“We have not made an official decision even at the level of the National Bank, because we need to complete the programs we have already started. When the next mission comes, we will focus on structural reform,” Prokopovich said.

The IMF Executive Board on October 21 completed the second review of Belarus’ performance under the economic program supported by a Stand-By Arrangement (SBA). This decision enabled the disbursement of SDR 437.93 million (about USD 699.5 million), bringing total disbursements under the program so far to about SDR 1.4 billion (about USD 2.23 billion).

The tranche had been received by October 26.

The original 15-month SBA was approved on January 12, 2009. Financial support was subsequently increased to SDR 2.27 billion (about USD 3.63 billion) on June 29, 2009.