Andrey Laptenok: For 2 weeks they have been monitoring the Belarusian economy, met representatives of the government, National Bank, scientific, business, diplomatic organizations. Meanwhile Belarus has announced new economic policies. The head of the IMF mission confirmed that the foundation will continue cooperation with the authorities in solving economic problems. By the way during the last 20 years there wasn't a single case, when Belarus delayed its loan payment. The plan of Belarusian economic reforms was presented at the session of IMF and the World Bank, which was held in Washington on October 11-13.
Representatives of the fund have often claimed that a plan of serious economic reforms is one of the conditions of efficient cooperation.
David Hoffman, the head of IMF mission: The new plan of joint activities of the Government and the National Bank signals that the authorities are going to change their economic policy. These plans are a good starting point.
Yet, some issues in negotiations of Belarus and IMF still have to be solved. They include bringing down the domestic demand, cutting pressure on payment balance and following flexible exchange rate.
