Yermakova: Ruble’s devaluation to go on

The National bank predicts further drop in exchange rate of Belarusian ruble.

It has been said to journalists by the chairperson of the National Bank’s board Nadzeja Yermakova, BelTA informs.

Speaking about prospects of the market, she noted that as for the loan and deposit market, the National Bank is going to conduct a policy of soft landing. “That is, they are to drop slowly, but within reasonable bounds. The same concerns the exchange rate policy. We shall continue the policy of gradual decline in the value of the national currency,” the chairperson of the board of the National Bank said.

Since May 19 the National Bank’s refinance rate was decreased by one percentage point and stands at 21.5% per annum, Yermakova reminded.

“The time will tell whether we are going to decrease it more; depending on how the situation at the macro-level and in the world in general is to evolve,” she added.

We remind that earlier the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia made a statement about new risks of depreciation of currency in Belarus.

“In the years to come the economic growth in the countries of the CIS and of the Customs Union is to lag behind the world dynamics. Alongside with the stagnation of the Russian economy, the slope in Ukrainian economy in 2014 which is estimated at 3-5% of the GDP, is to play a negative role as well. There are also risks of the new wave of devaluation and growth retardation in the economy of Belarus,” the prognosis of the Russian Ministry of Economic Development reads.