On March 6, Minsk /BELTA correspondent/. President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko received Chairperson of the Board of the National Bank of Belarus Nadezhda Ermakova on March 6 for a report. This was reported to a BELTA correspondent by the press service of the Belarusian leader. As the President noted, the situation in the financial market of Belarus is generally calm. "Progress has been made on the refinancing rate (currently the refinancing rate is 38% per annum. - BELTA note). This is good, the trend is normal, and we are convinced, as the government reports to me, that these are steps in the right direction. We will act in this direction," said Alexander Lukashenko. "The refinancing rate needs to be lowered so that the economy can get cheaper money. It is needed. Life has already led us to this. The bankers themselves, who work directly with the real sector, say that we really need to move towards lowering the refinancing rate so that loans become more accessible." Inflation was also discussed at the meeting. "The government reports to me that prices for some goods have gone down. Inflation in our country is linked to price regulation, to the fact that we regulate ourselves, for example, in education, and other areas. This is administrative regulation," noted the head of state. "And this is also good, because market inflation, where prices depend purely on supply and demand, tends to decrease. Perhaps we do not need this decrease. We would like to stabilize at this level and bring up the incomes of the population to it, and in this regard, we have good trends." As Nadezhda Ermakova reported to the head of state, there is a serious stabilization in the situation on the currency and financial markets, and in the banking system of the country as a whole. Regarding the reduction of the refinancing rate, the head of the National Bank stated that this occurred, primarily due to a decrease in inflation. This was facilitated, among other things, by the reduction of excess money in circulation, the normalization of the situation on the currency market, and the natural decrease in prices for some goods. "Of course, there is administrative leverage that holds back prices. This is also a normal situation, because every country regulates certain prices, especially for socially significant goods or services," said Nadezhda Ermakova. She noted that the refinancing rate should remain positive compared to the inflation rate.