OREANDA-NEWS. January 12, 2009. All the main target indicators set out in the Basic Guidelines of the Monetary and Credit Policy of Belarus 2008 have been successfully met, reported Chairman of the Board of the National Bank Pyotr Prokopovich to President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, reported the Official website http://president.gov.by.

The meeting centred on the performance of the Belarusian banking system in 2008 and on the objectives to be accomplished this year.

Although last year the Belarusian economy had to sustain the impact of the world financial crisis for several months, the GDP growth last year was 110 per cent as against the previous year, that of investment 123.1 per cent. This growth helped raise the salaries in the public sector by 12.3 per cent. Thus the main economic objectives set for the previous year were fully accomplished.

The national banking system played an essential role in it. The volume of bank loans rose more than 1.5 times, with the highest rate of growth reported in the investment and consumer loan sectors. For example, the volume of consumer loans rose more than 1.6 times. The payment system was stable (the amount of payments last year increased 1.5 times over the previous year).

The devaluation of the Belarusian rouble against the US dollar was 2.3 per cent last year.

Pyotr Prokopovich also reported on the achieving in 2008 of the objectives to strengthen Belarus’ banking sector. Specifically, in 2008 there was an unprecedented rise in the authorized funds of Belarusian banks, which increased by more than Br 4 trillion, or more than 2 times. That was accompanied by a dramatic rise in investment flowing into the national banking sector.

The resource base of Belarusian banks grew by 42 per cent from the previous year.

Three new banks with foreign capital emerged in Belarus at the end of 2008, which demonstrates the confidence on the part of foreign investors in the Belarusian banking system.

Last year’s economic achievements of Belarus became possible due to the extensive use of foreign loans and gold and foreign currency reserves, among other things. The gold and foreign currency reserves shrank by US1.33 billion in 2008.

These resources were utilised to maintain the efficiency of the real production sector and to achieve the planned economic growth rates. Therefore this year it is necessary that large-scale work be carried out to attract foreign investments in order to support the real production sector and overcome, with minimal damage, the difficult situation that has spread all across the world.

In this respect, since late 2008 Belarus has been conducting negotiations with the International Monetary Fund on the subject of being granted credit resources. At the end of last year, the IMF gave its preliminary agreement to provide a US 2.5 billion loan to Belarus.

But there was a hot debate during the negotiations over the need to devaluate the Belarusian rouble. The fundamental difference of opinion was on how to hold the devaluation, either gradually or by a one-time effort. ‘Until the end of last year we supported the position that the devaluation of the Belarusian rouble should be gradual, but then the National Bank took a decision to carry out a one-time devaluation’, said Pyotr Prokopovich. As he explained, the National Bank had to react promptly to the rapidly changing situation.