English

Shortage of foreign currencies remains serious problem, says National Bank head

The increasing shortage of foreign currencies in the Belarusian foreign exchange market remains the most serious problem for the banking system, Pyotr Prakapovich, head of the National Bank of Belarus (NBB), said at a meeting held by Alyaksandr Lukashenka on Friday to discuss the country’s economic performance in the first six months of this year, BelaPAN reports.

Gold and foreign currency reserves have to be used to pluck the gap that has been caused by companies buying foreign currencies, Mr. Prakapovich said.

The Belarusian leader warned that the companies “should return this currency” to the market, noting that purchases currently exceeded sales by almost $3 billion.

Commenting on other aspects of the banking system’s performance, Mr. Prakapovich said that the ruble was predicted to remain stable, with its fluctuations against a basket of foreign currencies not to go beyond a band of plus/minus eight percent in 2011.

The country’s international reserves are expected to increase by at least $1.2 billion next year, Mr. Prakopovich said.