Business news

MINSK, 16 February (BelTA) – The work with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) continues as planned, Belarus’ Deputy Finance Minister Yuri Seliverstov told the media before the board session of the ministry, BelTA has learned.

“The talks with the IMF are currently put on hold on the program [the loan]. We did not agree on the speed of the reforms they are suggesting. The work, however, with them continues as planned,” the deputy minister said.

According to Yuri Seliverstov, some of the documents that the IMF suggested to Belarus have already been adopted. “We have a strategy to manage the public debt, a concept to manage state-run enterprises. We took a number of steps on the pension reform. They could not agree on some of the terms, so the talks have been put on hold,” he said. We did not reach an agreement on the speed of reforms in the housing and utilities sector, either.

As BelTA reported earlier, the IMF mission last worked in Belarus from 26 October to 10 November 2017 as part of the consultations on Article IV. The consultations discussed economic policy in the country.