Belarus pays $79.3m off IMF standby loan principal

Belarus honored its obligation to repay a standby loan taken from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by transferring 54.7 million SDR as the next installment to repay the principal sum, or the equivalent of $79.3 million.

Charter97.org learnt it from the Ministry of Finance of Belarus.

A previous installment of $79.7 million was transfered on December 22.

From January 2009 through April 2010, Belarus accomplished a standby program backed by a $3.5 billion IMF loan. It allowed the country to secure positive dynamics of several economy and monetary management indicators.

In 1992-2008, Belarus tapped into IMF resources twice: $217.2 million from the Systemic Transformation Facility and $77.4 million via the standby lending mechanism. In February 2005 Belarus fully paid out those loans.

IMF operation in Belarus is aimed at working together with the government and the National Bank in preparing economic policy documents, focusing on taxation, budgeting, monetary management, exchange rate, and trade policy for the sake of achieving considerable economic growth, low inflation and a stable balance of payments.