MINSK, December 17 (RIA Novosti) - Belarus will come through its economic difficulties without financial support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the country’s President Alexander Lukashenko said on Monday.
“We can do it all by ourselves. If the IMF helps us, we’ll thank them … If not – we’ll get by without their help,” the Belarusian leader was quoted by the national news agency Belta as saying.
The country’s worsening economic and financial situation prompted Belarus to seek financial aid from the IMF, Russia and Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC) member states in recent years.
"We got by without IMF support, and we will get through this too. We won’t collapse as certain powers would like us to,” he said.
“But they want to divide us, they want us to sell [companies] off quickly. The IMF is pursuing the interests of its principal founders - the West and the United States. And we are aware of this,” he added.
Belarus received five IMF loans totaling $3.46 billion in 2009-2010. In 2011, Minsk again asked the IMF for help, after it devalued its ruble under pressure from a large trade deficit, wage increases and government loans granted ahead of the December 2010 presidential election.
