Business news

MINSK, 15 April (BelTA) – The annual spring meetings of the governing boards of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank group will take place in Washington, USA on 15-17 April. An official Belarusian delegation is expected to take part in the event, BelTA learned from the website of the Development Bank of the Republic of Belarus.

According to the source, the event acts as a basic venue for a dialogue with top administrators of these international financial organizations. Plans have been made to discuss sensitive issues relating to the program on Belarus’ cooperation with the IMF. Plans have been made to discuss matters concerning the World Bank’s credit line that will be opened for the Development Bank of the Republic of Belarus to finance small and medium enterprises as part of the project designed to improve the competitive ability in the Republic of Belarus. Apart from that, the discussion will touch upon prospects of expanding the strategy for partnership with the World Bank group.

DBRB representatives stated that annual meetings traditionally attract representatives of the world’s largest financial institutions because they allow arranging meetings with top officials from various countries. Bearing it in mind, the international investment banks Bank of America Merrill Lynch and VTB Capital will arrange meetings with investors for the Belarusian delegation.

By taking part in such meetings, the management of the Development Bank of the Republic of Belarus will be given an opportunity to present the bank before major investment funds, which are considering investing in Belarusian debt instruments.

Members of the Belarusian delegation will also hold a number of bilateral meetings with representatives of American banks.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an international organization headquartered in Washington, USA. It was founded on 27 December 1945. Belarus has been an IMF member since 1992.

Belarus became a World Bank member in 1992. Since then the country has borrowed $1.88 billion. Apart from that, a number of programs have received support via grants. The current investment portfolio includes nine projects for a total sum of $998 million.

The public joint-stock company (OAO) Development Bank of the Republic of Belarus is a specialized financial institution. The founders of the Bank are the Council of Ministers and the National Bank of Belarus. The Bank has been tasked with financing long-term and capital-intensive investment projects, state programs and activities.