Business news

MINSK, 22 August (BelTA) - Belarus may close the year 2017 with the inflation below 7%, Belarusian Prime Minister Andrei Kobyakov told the media after the government conference chaired by Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko on 22 August, BelTA has learned.

“The inflation keeps reducing and the tendency is strong. We are slightly behind the Russian Federation in terms of the seven-month inflation rate but we are doing better than Kazakhstan and Ukraine. There are the prospects that the inflation will be under 7% by December,” the prime minister said.

As a result, the borrowing costs may be reduced, Andrei Kobyakov said. “In July the interest rate on newly issued loans for economic entities was 13.2%. To understand the difference I would like to remind that the interest rate for corporate clients was 20.6% in December 2016. 13% is still high. Of course, no one is suggesting to try to cut it using the administrative leverage. If no extraordinary external influences come up, then the interest rate on loans will continue moving downward,” the prime minister noted.