Creditors Advised To Keep Away From Belarus

Belarus went ahead of West African Togo as for the degree of credit risks in the updated rankings.

In the updated classification of the country credit risks, published by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Belarus remained in the seventh (worst) group of countries, BelaPAN reports.

Meanwhile, the transfer to another group is of great importance for a country, experts say.

In the updated classification, some states proceeded to a higher group, indicating a decrease in their credit risks. For example, Argentina moved from the seventh to the sixth group. The West African state of Togo was also moved to the sixth group from the worst one.

It should be noted that the issue of transfer of Belarus to the group of countries with a lower level of country credit risks was discussed during the visit of the Belarusian governmental delegation headed by First Deputy Prime Minister Vasil Matsiusheuski to Washington in the first decade of October.

In October, the National Bank's managing board stated twice that, with respect to the level of credit risks Belarus (OECD classification) corresponds to the fifth or sixth group of countries and placing Belarus in the seventh group of states was not an adequate assessment of the level of the country risk.

Meanwhile, the sources in financial circles said that foreign export agencies, which are involved in the financing of the Belarusian projects, were already working in some cases with the residents of Belarus on special conditions.

"Some foreign export agencies have decided to grant to residents of Belarus' financial conditions which are better than the OECD standards, which considers our country should be in the seventh group of risks," - the expert in financial circles said.

He noted that Belarus' transfer to another group of the OECD classification of states is very important for the country. "Relocation of Belarus to another group of countries on the level of country risk will surely lead to the fact that in general, the cost involved in overseas resources will be less, and the volume of resources will grow," – the expert said.

The OECD is an international economic organization of developed countries, recognizing the principles of representative democracy and free market economy. It was founded in 1948. The OECD members are now 35 countries, including most EU countries. The European Commission also participates in it on the rights of an individual member of the organization. The countries - OECD members account for about 60% of the world GDP.