MINSK – An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission’s visit to Belarus has been postponed due to the coronavirus, the Fund’s office in Belarus told Interfax.
“The mission has been postponed indefinitely due to restrictions on movement by Fund officers, introduced due to the coronavirus situation in the world,” the office said.
An IMF Article IV Mission was due to visit the Belarusian capital Minsk on March 19-30. During Article IV consultations, an IMF team of experts visits a country to assess economic and financial developments and discuss the country’s economic and financial policies with government and National Bank officials, representatives of commercial banks and the expert community.
The last IMF Article IV Mission visited Belarus in November 2018. A regular mission visited at the end of October last year to assess the economy.
The IMF in its October World Economic Outlook slashed its forecast for economic growth in Belarus in 2020 from 2.2% to 0.3%.
Belarusian officials said at the end of 2019 that the country was keen to raise new IMF funding.
Belarus has been a member of the IMF since 1992. In 2009-2010, it implemented a stand-by program, receiving a $3.46 billion loan.
The country’s cooperation with the IMF is currently limited to technical consultations. In 2016-2017, the sides held talks on the resumption of loan cooperation, but they were broken off due to disagreements over the pace of social reform, especially with regard to utility rates for households.
The government, with the World Bank’s support, has drafted an extensive structural reforms program which has not yet received the backing of the country’s leadership.
