February 14, Minsk /Anna Kot - BELTA/. The possibility of resuming foreign currency lending to individuals for housing construction will be considered at the level of the National Bank's Board. This was reported to a BELTA correspondent by Alexander Timoshenko, Head of the Information and Public Relations Department of the National Bank of Belarus.
"The decision on resuming or not resuming foreign currency lending can only be made by the National Bank's Board, based on a thorough analysis of all pros and cons, and the potential economic consequences of such a step," explained Alexander Timoshenko. The National Bank representative added that once any decision is made on this issue, the relevant information will be promptly communicated to the general public.
In mid-2009, the National Bank suspended the issuance of foreign currency loans to individuals by Belarusian banks, and at the end of 2010, it completely prohibited such lending. The decision was justified by the high level of risk associated with foreign currency loans.
On February 13, at a meeting of the Council of Ministers, Prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich noted that he considered it advisable to allow foreign currency lending to individuals for housing construction and appealed to the National Bank and commercial banks to support this initiative. According to the Prime Minister, this year the volume of funds from the population directed towards housing construction should increase by more than Br15 trillion, and without adequate credit support at affordable interest rates, it will be simply impossible to implement this. -0-