Zaika: We should not take another $3bn credit from IMF

An IMF mission headed by Peter Dolman has started working in Belarus. The experts will spend more than a week in Belarus – from November 9 until November 19. They will assess the readiness of the Belarusian authorities for economic reforms.

IMF representatives also mentioned ‘economic reforms’ during their previous visits to Belarus. In particular, the IMF recommended that the government reduced financing of state programmes, optimized the sector of state enterprises and increased the fare and communal services tariffs.

If the reforms are conducted, the IMF may allocate a $3bn credit to Belarus.

Euroradio has asked economist Leanid Zaika if Belarus can fulfill the reforms and get the credit. The response was rather unexpected:

“Why do we need another IMF credit when we already owe more than 40 billions? The money we are using to pay foreign debts could be used to buy a flat for every school graduate in Belarus. The IMF is a commercial organization. It will give us a credit if it makes sure that we can still be milked.  Why do we need another credit? Why should we owe 43 billion dollars instead of 40 billions?”

The reforms suggested by the IMF will not give any effect because the IMF has no idea about the situation in Belarus, the economist believes.

Photo: belgazeta.by