OREANDA-NEWS. November 06, 2012. Prime Minister of Belarus Mikhail Myasnikovich made the statement as he met with IMF mission head David Hofman.

“We believe that taking into account a lot of work that has been done Belarus can expect a new program with the IMF,” said Mikhail Myasnikovich. “I think it will be reported to the executive directors and the political leadership of the fund,” he added.

Judging by the volume of materials presented by the mission for the meeting with the government officials, the mission had been working quite effectively in Belarus for 11 days, said the Prime Minister. “Approving of the conclusions of the mission in principle, I would like to note that you may have lacked sufficient information regarding some things and the conclusions are therefore not totally objective,” said Mikhail Myasnikovich.

“I think you have had an opportunity to make sure that the government and the National Bank have been putting consistent efforts into stabilizing the economy,” said Mikhail Myasnikovich. He remarked that to some extent it corresponds to the recommendations that the previous mission presented.

First of all, the state of affairs on the currency market and the consumer market has been stabilized. “We have achieved a deficit-free budget and have secured a growth of the gold and foreign exchange reserves. At the same time we fully service the foreign debt and planned budget appropriations. If we look at the balance of the foreign trade, we have a surplus. Even if different approaches are used, we still rather successfully export industrial and agricultural goods,” said Mikhail Myasnikovich.

“Why do we talk about the need to raise export as a priority? Macroeconomic stabilization follows it. As professionals we understand it very well,” said the Prime Minister. Mikhail Myasnikovich added that certainly the inflation rate does not satisfy the Belarusian side but is within the forecast range.

“Therefore, we would like the concluding documents of the IMF mission to reflect this and other considerations,” concluded Mikhail Myasnikovich.

In turn, David Hofman remarked that over the last two weeks the IMF mission representatives have had very productive discussions with colleagues from the National Bank, the government and other parties. “I am glad that today we have an opportunity to discuss our conclusions with you,” said the IMF mission head.

Led by David Hofman, the mission of the International Monetary Fund started working in Belarus on 18 October to finish the work on 29 October. The mission was designed to conduct the third post-program monitoring of the Belarusian economy. The mission’s report will be discussed by the IMF Board of Directors. The mission’s visit was supposed to give an opportunity for Belarusian authorities and IMF officers to discuss the economic policy of the Belarusian government and national economy development prospects in 2013.

Belarus implemented a standby program that was backed by a USD3.6 billion IMF loan between January 2009 and April 2010. The Belarusian side has repeatedly stated its interest in implementing a new program with the International Monetary Fund.