The first tranche of the loan of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at the amount of $787.9 million has been transferred to Belarus, BelTA learnt from the information department of the National Bank of Belarus. A reminder, on January 12, 2009, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund approved a 15-month Stand-By Arrangement for $2.46 billion for Belarus. Belarus applied to this international finance organization for a loan in order to increase the national gold and foreign exchange reserves and to create a kind of “safety cushion” essential for the sustained economic development in the conditions of the global financial crisis. This money will be added to the national gold and foreign exchange reserves to maintain the national currency rate. Belarus joined the IMF on July 10, 1992; its quota is SDR 386.4 million (about $588.0 million). Its latest arrangement with the IMF was a Stand-By Arrangement that expired on September 11, 1996.

БЕЛТА