OREANDA-NEWS. On April 28, 2008 the President of the Republic of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, met with the Chairman of the Board of the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus, Pyotr Prokopovich, to receive his report, reported the Official website http://president.gov.by.

All major targets as set in the 2008 Basic Guidelines of the Monetary and Credit Policy of the Republic of Belarus have been successfully met since the beginning of the year.

Over first four months of 2008, credit resources of Belarus’ real production sector increased nearly 1.5 times from the same period last year, according to preliminary estimates. Much attention has been paid to providing housing construction loans, lending to agriculture, consumer lending.
 
Since early this year the interest rate policy has been in line with the figures projected in the Basic Guidelines of the Monetary and Credit Policy. The payment system has been stable; stability of the national currency has been secured, the head of the National Bank said. The exchange rate of the Belarusian rouble rose against the US dollar by Br 8, or 0,37 per cent.

The national currency will continue to rise. On the whole, this year the exchange rate is expected to meet the projections of the Basic Guidelines of the Monetary and Credit Policy. Thus the National Bank seeks to secure the exchange rate of Br 2,100/USD. Stability of the national currency has been ensured by the country’s economic performance: hard currency proceeds over four months this year increased more than 1,4 times from the same period last year, according to preliminary estimates.

Today Belarus’ gold and hard currency reserves amount to \\$ 5,5 billion. Thus this year's target for the growth of gold and hard currency reserves has been almost achieved.