IMF: Belarus should liberalize prices and wages

The most important structural reforms, including the liberalization of prices and wages, should follow the devaluation of the national currency in Belarus, IMF Deputy Director Takatoshi Kato said in a statement after IMF's Executive Board of Directors finished a meeting on Belarus.
Kato noted that the devaluation of the exhange rate would help restore the competitiveness and overcome external disbalances.

The adoption of a new currency basket and  wider corridor will allow the economy to adapt better to external shocks and thus reduce a possibility of the additional adjustmentof the currency exchange rate. 


According to Kato, the measures planned by the government also envisage the reduction of the targeted crediting, a better budget balance and a more careful policy in the field of wages in the public sector.

In cooperation with the World Bank, the government in Belarus also plans to analyze the system of social security so that the most vulnerable groups be protected from recession and higher utulities tariffs, Kato said.

Belapan