National Bank: no grounds for reducing refinancing rate

The National Bank of Belarus sees no grounds for reducing the refinancing rate, Pavel Kallaur, the First Deputy Chairman of the Board of the National Bank, told a press conference on November 21. “We have no new information which would give us the grounds for reducing the rate of refinancing,” he said. At the same time the inflation process in the world economy, including the growth of prices for oil and meat products, make an impact on many countries, he said. For example, the Central European Bank has failed to keep within the inflation margin,” he added. “We are not isolated from the trends in the international economy. Until the international tendency does not change, there will be no grounds to revise the interest policy,” he added. According to Pavel Kallaur, allowing for the international trends, the Government of Belarus will have to take decisions on administered prices. Much will depend on the performance of the budget as there are some expenses due and unpaid. “If the situation in the international market is favourable and if we do not increase expenditures, then we will be able to keep the inflation within the projections,” Pavel Kallaur said.