OREANDA-NEWS. The refinancing rate of the National Bank of Belarus (NBB) will be reduced by one percentage point to 22.5% on April 16, 2014, the NBB chairwoman Nadezhda Yermakova told.

Asked to comment on the situation on the market of ruble deposits, the NBB chief admitted a decline in the influx of Br deposits and FX deposits.

“Probably, everybody is playing the waiting game now. Our goal is to prevent to depreciation of Br deposits, which means bank have to offer relevant interest rates,” Yermakova said. Interest rates will remain high, as long as Belarus' inflation growth remains high, she said. As long as deposit interest rates stay high, it is difficult to speak about reducing the cost of credit resources, Yermakova said.

The NBB chief assured that Belarus' central banks would not change its monetary policy. Even though some experts keep pushing Belarus into following the example of Russia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine, which devaluated their home currencies, the NBB will not go for that, Yermakova said. “There is every reason for us not to make drastic changes, as we don't find it necessary,” the NBB chief said.

The US dollar remains a major currency for Belarus, as all transactions are settled in dollars and credits are denominated in that currency, Yermakova said. “If we change the focus in favour of the Russian rule, our calculations show that the end result will be negative. Therefore, we are not making any changes to out policy,” Yermakova said.

The NBB chief informed about the pending ban on issuing credits to applicants without a certificate of income. The bill on introducing a limit on cash transactions is under development, Yermakova informed.