OREANDA-NEWS. February 04, 2010. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) sees Belarus’ economic growth at 3% year-on-year in 2010, EBRD economist Alexander Plekhanov told when presenting the EBRD Transition Report 2009.

The key challenges for Belarus in 2010 are the search for new sources of foreign financing and ways to reduce the foreign trade deficit.

Another problem for Belarus is the limited number of market outlets.

According to Plekhanov, Belarus owes its growth in 2009 to external financing. “Investments increased 9% in real terms in 2009, while in other countries they fell.”

Belarus became an EBRD member in 1992. The Bank was engaged in 24 projects in Belarus in 2000-August 2009, with a total value of 385 million euros. EBRD gross disbursements reached 206.1 million euros in the period, and additional mobilization of funds reached 141 million euros.