OREANDA-NEWS. March 06, 2012. An observation mission of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has started operating in Belarus.

Led by Chris Jarvis, the mission will be operating in Minsk under Article 4 of the IMF Statute until March 6.

The IMF mission is expected to reconsider the macroeconomic forecast for Belarus to 2012 and the next 5-year period.

Belarus received in 2009-2010 five tranches of the IMF SBA loan totaling USD 3.6 billion. Plagued with financial and economic difficulties in 2011, Belarus applied for a new stand-by loan of USD 7 billion.

As previously reported, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is not going to replace the current Resident Representative, Natalia Koliadina, who has been the IMF Resident Representative in the Republic of Belarus since April 2009, after the end of her assignment.

As reported by the Finance Ministry of Belarus, the country will spend an estimated USD 1.63 billion in 2012 to service its foreign liabilities, including USD 562.91 million to be paid back in settlement for IMF loans.