Lenders may require reforms in Belarus

On 11 July at the meeting with World Bank delegation Mikhail Myasnikovich, the Prime Minister of Belarus, proposed to discuss a new strategy for bilateral cooperation. At the same time, the volume of new lending will depend on the position of main shareholders of the Bank. The allocation of the new soft loan to Belarus for development purposes is possible in the case of the actual launch of the second IMF program stand by.

For his part, the World Bank director for Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine Chimyao Fan expressed willingness to intensify actions to develop a new country strategy, since the previous strategy ended in 2011. In his view, when developing a new strategy, Belarus should more actively cooperate with major shareholders of the Bank (they include five countries – the U.S.A, Japan, Germany, France and the UK).

Currently, thirteen projects in energy, forestry and road infrastructure totaling $ 900 million were and are still realized with the support of the World Bank in Belarus.

During the meeting Ch.Fan said that the World Bank would support the implementation of the structural reforms in Belarus, including the reform of the pension system. In his view, the allocation of a soft loan to Belarus for development purposes depends on IMF’s decision on the implementation of the second program stand by.

This means that in order for the Belarusian government to obtain additional financial resources, it will have to fulfill the requirements of the major shareholders of the IMF, the countries with the greatest weight in making decisions on lending.