On April 26, Minsk /BelTA correspondent/. The Ministry of Economy of Belarus is recalculating the inflation forecast for 2011. This was announced today to journalists by the Minister of Economy, Nikolai Snopkov, commenting on the price situation in the republic. As of April 20, inflation since the beginning of the year amounted to 8.75%. At the same time, the projected inflation rate for the entire 2011 was set at 7.5%-8.5%. "We are currently calculating a new forecast. Inflation has already exceeded the projected level, although the inflation base, excluding energy and imported food products, is 3.6-3.7%," said Nikolai Snopkov. "At the moment, we are conducting calculations, and we would not want to make a mistake again. At the same time, the main factors we are using in the calculations are how the National Bank will determine the equilibrium exchange rate, and to what extent the compression of budget expenditures will allow the GDP parameters to be met. We cannot yet definitively answer either the first or the second question. We would not like to disclose the scenarios we are calculating yet," emphasized the Minister of Economy. According to him, problems in the foreign exchange market had a certain negative impact on the price situation in the country. This was also reflected in the growth of the consumer price index. "In principle, inflation is 75% internally monetary. Everything related to the banking sector, monetary policy, directly affects inflation," explained Nikolai Snopkov.-0-

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