OREANDA-NEWS. November 25, 2008. The Belarusian Government, the National Bank of Belarus and the IMF will continue negotiating the USD 2bn loan in December.

The first phase of the negotiations with the IMF mission, which stayed in Minsk in October 2008, was completed successfully. A reminder, Belarus applied to the IMF for a loan to increase the state gold and foreign currency reserves and to create the “safety cushion” necessary for the stable performance of the economy during the global financial crisis.

“The technical issues will be discussed during the next visit of the IMF mission to the Republic of Belarus in December,” says the National Bank.

In line with the IMF procedures, after all technicalities are settled, a relevant set of documents is submitted to the IMF Executive Council for final approval.

The IMF mission stayed in Minsk for the past several weeks to discuss the economic programme which could be supported by a stand-by mechanism.

“The authorities of Belarus and the mission reached great progress and general agreement in respect of the measures to provide assistance to Belarus in overcoming this complicated global situation. However, more time is needed to regulate technical issues. Last weekend the mission came back to Washington but the negotiations continue,” informed the IMF Office.