Business news

MINSK, 2 October (BelTA) — Belarus’ National Bank maintains its inflation forecast 2018 at below 6%, Dmitry Lapko, deputy chairman of the Board of the National Bank, told the media in Minsk on 2 October, BelTA has learned.

"The inflation forecast remains unchanged. This is what we aim for," Dmitry Lapko noted. According to the deputy chairman, there are external risks that may affect this rate but they are not very high.

Dmitry Lapko also mentioned the work on the so-called bad debt market. "The work is underway. We are collecting the opinions of all government bodies concerned," he said. The draft concept is ready. When the opinions of all government bodies are accumulated, this work will enter the final stretch.

Belarus president decree No. 200 was signed on 24 May. According to the document, banks of all forms of ownership can be involved in the process of managing the activities of debtor enterprises (exchange problem debts on loans for shares of an enterprise). The document makes it possible to transfer the rights under the loan agreement to another creditor at a discount (sale of bad debts by the bank). The decree allows one bank to accumulate all the problem debts of an enterprise and restructure them in order to reduce the borrower's credit burden. Furthermore, the debtors who are in a difficult economic situation can be exempted from the obligation to repay the bad debt on loans through debt forgiveness by the banks.

The decree creates the conditions for reducing the bad debts of enterprises in the real economy sector on the payments to the budget and loan agreements, decreasing the shortage of working capital and helping banks make the most effective decisions on debt restructuring and on financing investment projects of agricultural enterprises.