Slow recovery of external demand to hold back economic activity in Belarus – Kallaur
<p> MINSK, Aug 12 - PrimePress. The slow recovery of external demand will restrain growth of business activity in Belarus, Chairman of the Board of the National Bank of Belarus (NBB) Pavel Kallaur told reporters on August 12. </p> <p> </p> <p> He said that budgetary measures to support the Belarusian economy would continue. This will help businesses and households to overcome impacts of the pandemic and facilitate the gradual recovery of aggregate demand. </p> <p> </p> <p> “We expected the stimulating effect of the fiscal policy measures to become apparent in 2020. As economic growth resumes, the fiscal stimulation is likely to gradually decrease. As a result, the national budget deficit will begin to decrease after its peak in 2020,” Kallaur said. </p> <p> </p> <p> The National Bank predicts that the recovery of economic activity will lead to an improvement of the balance of payments. The NBB expects a net supply of foreign exchange in the domestic market, which will help maintain gold and foreign exchange reserves. The national currency rate will remain close to equilibrium. </p> <p> </p> <p> “With this forecast in mind, it is possible that the moderate easing of monetary conditions will continue. The increased depreciation expectations of economic agents and today’s situation in the currency and deposit markets make it impossible to do this now,” said the NBB head. </p> <p> </p> <p> As previously reported, Belarus’ budget will be Br3.7-4 billion ($1.5-1.64 billion at the rate of the National Bank of Belarus) short in 2020 due to the economic slowdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic and the unfavorable oil market behavior. In this situation, the government decided to increase the budget deficit in 2020 almost 6-fold to Br5.6 billion ($2.3 billion). End </p>
2020-08-12
Primepress
Slow recovery of external demand to hold back economic activity in Belarus – Kallaur
MINSK, Aug 12 - PrimePress. The slow recovery of external demand will restrain growth of business activity in Belarus, Chairman of the Board of the National Bank of Belarus (NBB) Pavel Kallaur told reporters on August 12.
He said that budgetary measures to support the Belarusian economy would continue. This will help businesses and households to overcome impacts of the pandemic and facilitate the gradual recovery of aggregate demand.
“We expected the stimulating effect of the fiscal policy measures to become apparent in 2020. As economic growth resumes, the fiscal stimulation is likely to gradually decrease. As a result, the national budget deficit will begin to decrease after its peak in 2020,” Kallaur said.
The National Bank predicts that the recovery of economic activity will lead to an improvement of the balance of payments. The NBB expects a net supply of foreign exchange in the domestic market, which will help maintain gold and foreign exchange reserves. The national currency rate will remain close to equilibrium.
“With this forecast in mind, it is possible that the moderate easing of monetary conditions will continue. The increased depreciation expectations of economic agents and today’s situation in the currency and deposit markets make it impossible to do this now,” said the NBB head.
As previously reported, Belarus’ budget will be Br3.7-4 billion ($1.5-1.64 billion at the rate of the National Bank of Belarus) short in 2020 due to the economic slowdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic and the unfavorable oil market behavior. In this situation, the government decided to increase the budget deficit in 2020 almost 6-fold to Br5.6 billion ($2.3 billion). End