Republic

MINSK, 6 December (BelTA) – The currency market and the economy should be kept stable, said President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko after a working meeting with Chairwoman of the Board of the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus (NBRB) Nadezhda Yermakova on 6 December, the press service of the Belarusian head of state told BelTA. The NBRB head informed the President about the state of affairs on the currency market, the liquidity of the banking system, and lending to the economy. “The situation on the currency market is calm now. The population is selling foreign currency. Taking into account the fact that the Belarusian ruble has gained against the US dollar, the population even sells more foreign currency,” remarked Nadezhda Yermakova. Since the extra session of the Belarusian Currency and Stock Exchange was opened on 14 September, individuals have sold about $640 million of foreign currency. Banks have sold $550 million out of the sum via the currency exchange. In turn, mandatory sales of foreign currencies have increased. The daily sale used to be about $28 million before the single trading session was introduced while now the figure averages $40-41 million. The demand for foreign currency to pay out loans has increased among enterprises and organizations in view of the end of the year. Nevertheless, Nadezhda Yermakova said that December 2011 will be calm as far as the situation on the currency market is concerned, there are sufficient resources to satisfy the demand of corporations. The liquidity of the banking system has improved a bit. The National Bank has reduced the volume of support for commercial banks by about Br500 million. The inflow of Belarusian ruble and foreign currency deposits of natural persons is on the rise. In November commercial banks attracted Br126 billion and the equivalent of $60 million in deposits. The NBRB head also stated that the Belarusian economy has somewhat reduced borrowing due to the higher refinancing rate and respectively higher interest rates. The National Bank did it deliberately to reduce inflation expectations and stem the inflation growth. As far as lending to individuals is concerned, the issuance of loans on preferential terms for housing construction continues, with Br800 billion in these loans issued in November alone. There are no problems with resources, said the official. Belarus’ gold and foreign exchange reserves have increased following the transfer of $2.5 billion earned by selling a package of OAO Beltransgaz shares. The NBRB plans to achieve this year’s targeted growth of gold and forex reserves partially thanks to the expected arrival of the second tranche to the tune of $440 million from the EurAsEC Anticrisis Fund.

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