OREANDA-NEWS. September 14, 2011. A move by Belarus to float its ruble will bring short-term pain, but will be positive for the country’s credit as it should help to shrink its large current account deficit, Moody’s Investors Services said Monday.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Aug. 30 the exchange rate would be determined by the market during special trading sessions that begin this month.

That should lead the ruble’s value to fall 30%-50% against the U.S. dollar, Moody's said in its Weekly Credit Outlook, accelerating inflation and damaging import-dependent industries.

The move comes after authorities devalued the ruble by 36% in May in their struggle against a bloated trade deficit.

But a free-floating ruble could help secure a USD 3 billion international loan for the land-locked former Soviet state, Moody’s said.

It should also “enable Belarus’s economy to rely less on external debt financed imports and credit in favor of more sustainable growth, by forcing improvements in productivity to compensate for the loss of cheap credit and imports,” the ratings firm wrote.