OREANDA-NEWS. February 25, 2010. The IMF Executive Board is expected to address the results of joint efforts of the Belarusian authorities and IMF staff and take the decision on extending the final loan tranche to Belarus in the second half of March 2010, the National Bank of Belarus (NBB) said in a statement.

“The NBB and the Belarusian government will continue taking the agreed measures and meeting their obligations to successfully complete the economic program supported under a Stand-By Arrangement (SBA).”

The NBB and the government have completed negotiations with IMF experts that stayed in Belarus February 3 through 16 to conduct the final review of Belarus’ commitments under the program.

The Belarusian side and IMF staff have agreed on the completion of the review.

Belarus received the fourth tranche of the IMF loan, amounting to USD 688 million, in December 2009.

The 15-month, SDR 1.62 billion (about USD 2.46 billion) SBA was approved on January 12, 2009 and on June 29, 2009 the size of financial package provided under the SBA was increased to an amount equivalent to SDR 2.27 billion (about USD 3.63 billion).