"Growth of the economy by 2% per year." S&P upgrades long-term credit rating of Belarus

The international rating agency Standard & Poor's raised the long-term sovereign credit rating of Belarus for liabilities in foreign and national currencies to the level of "B" and maintained a stable outlook. The short-term foreign and local currency rating was affirmed at 'B'. This is stated in the message of the agency.

S&P said Belarus' GDP growth and the provision of external financing contributed to the upgrade of the long-term rating. “Through the issuance of Eurobonds and the provision of official loans, the government has met most of its financing needs for 2018,” the report says.

S&P analysts believe that the Belarusian economy in 2017-2020. will grow by an average of 2%. This will be facilitated by the normalization of bilateral relations between Belarus and RUSSIA, as well as the improvement of economic indicators in the main trading partners - the Russian Federation and the European Union.

At the same time, the agency emphasizes that the expansion of economic activity in 2017 was caused primarily by cyclical rather than structural factors. After attracting external financing, the Belarusian authorities are no longer “as interested in attracting a loan from the IMF as before, and as a result, the incentive to carry out large-scale structural reforms is likely to have decreased,” the press release says.

The gross domestic product of Belarus in January-August 2017 increased by 1.6% compared to the same period in 2016. Thus, the Belarusian economy after a two-year recession shows a positive trend. The Belarusian authorities predicted a 1.7% GDP growth in 2017.

In 2017, Belarus placed $1.4 billion worth of Eurobonds and attracted a $700 million loan from Moscow.