MINSK, Nov. 9 (Xinhua) -- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recommends Belarus to implement economic reforms at a faster pace to increase the economy's resilience and improve growth prospects, Peter Dohlman, IMF Mission Chief for Belarus, told local media on Thursday.
"We assume that Belarus' economic growth will reach about 1.7 percent in 2017, and in the medium term it will remain at about two percent," Dohlman said.
Earlier, IMF forecasted Belarus' GDP growth to 0.7 percent in 2017.
The restoration of economic growth, which is observed this year in Belarus, is largely due to a significant improvement in external economic conditions, he noted.
"But it is also a consequence of the decisive actions taken by the government over the past two and a half years and aimed at stabilizing the economy. The government had to take a number of difficult decisions, including tightening monetary and fiscal policies and further liberalizing prices. Today we again observe the growth of consumption and investment, the exchange rate has stabilized, and the level of inflation has dropped to historically minimal values," he added.
With more robust economic policies and faster reforms, IMF believes that economic growth could rise to four percent in the medium term, he concluded.
