Page 25 - BELRptAug18

IntelliNews' correspondent in Minsk, Paritetbank has changed its owners between the two bids, and is now owned by the nation's State Property Fund instead of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s administrative affairs department.
8.2 Central Bank policy rate
The National Bank of Belarus (NBB) intends to cut its benchmark interest rate to 14-16% by the end of 2017 , its deputy chairman Sergei Kalechit said on October 4.
Belarus’ refinancing rate may be reduced to 9-9.5% per annum by the end of 2019 , the Deputy Chairman of the Board of the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus (NBRB) Sergei Kalechits said on August 2, reports BelTA . Next year's monetary management policy is expected to focus on bring the consumer prices index down to 5% as of December 2019 over December 2018, and the central bank will continue its policy of targeting inflation. The average broad money supply, which remains an intermediate reference point for the monetary management policy, is expected to grow by 9-12% over the same period. Another goal is to raise the country's gold and foreign exchange reserves to at least $7.1bn, or two months' worth of import of merchandise and services. “The success of the pursued policy, the price stability, financial and macroeconomic stability in the country will depend to a large degree on concerted actions of the central bank, the banking system, and the central government. Persistence and trust in the pursued policy are important,” the NBRB said in a report.
8.4 International ratings
BELARUS - Rating agency
as of Jan 2018
Bond rating: Moody’s
Caa1(S)
Bond rating: Fitch
B (S)
Bond rating: S&P
B (S)
25 BELARUS Country Report August 2018 www.intellinews.com