Belarus has leverage to improve balance of payments, the head of the IMF mission says

       Belarus has the leverage to improve the balance of payments, the head of the IMF mission in Belarus David Hofman told media after the mission finished its work in Belarus.
He stressed the importance of Belarus' international reserves which are currently at approximately $8 billion. "We recommend the government to continue to increase the international reserves. This implies considerable protection in the short term,” he said.
      According to the IMF, with the current macroeconomic and structural policies “it will be difficult to maintain the current level of living standards in the future.” In this regard, the IMF recommends profound structural reforms that should lead to the improved performance of Belarusian enterprises and their competitiveness. 
      Over time this will increase productivity and profitability, which will allow increasing the wages and incomes and provide sustainable improvement in the standards of living. He admitted that such a transition is not easy. In this connection, there should be a system of targeted social protection of the population, he said.