Egypt to swap capital gains for stamp duty to boost stock market investment    Petroleum minister, AngloGold Ashanti discuss expanded investments in Egypt    Egypt, Volkswagen discuss multi-stage plan to localise car manufacturing    Egypt denies coordination with Israel over Rafah crossing    Egypt tackles waste sector funding gaps, local governance reforms    Egypt, Switzerland explore expanded health cooperation, joint pharmaceutical ventures    IMF mission begins fifth, sixth reviews of Egypt's economic programme – PM    EGX closes in green area on 3 Dec    Egypt recovers two ancient artefacts from Belgium    Oil prices edged lower on Wednesday    Egypt's Abdelatty urges deployment of international stabilisation force in Gaza during Berlin talks    Egypt opens COP24 Mediterranean, urges faster transition to sustainable blue economy    Private Egyptian firm Tornex target drones and logistics UAVs at EDEX 2025    Egypt, Saudi nuclear authorities sign MoU to boost cooperation on nuclear safety    Giza master plan targets major hotel expansion to match Grand Egyptian Museum launch    Australia returns 17 rare ancient Egyptian artefacts    China invites Egypt to join African duty-free export scheme    Egypt calls for stronger Africa-Europe partnership at Luanda summit    Egypt begins 2nd round of parliamentary elections with 34.6m eligible voters    Egypt warns of erratic Ethiopian dam operations after sharp swings in Blue Nile flows    Egypt scraps parliamentary election results in 19 districts over violations    Egypt extends Ramses II Tokyo Exhibition as it draws 350k visitors to date    Egypt signs host agreement for Barcelona Convention COP24 in December    Al-Sisi urges probe into election events, says vote could be cancelled if necessary    Filmmakers, experts to discuss teen mental health at Cairo festival panel    Cairo International Film Festival to premiere 'Malaga Alley,' honour Khaled El Nabawy    Egypt golf team reclaims Arab standing with silver; Omar Hisham Talaat congratulates team    Egypt launches National Strategy for Rare Diseases at PHDC'25    Egypt adds trachoma elimination to health success track record: WHO    Egypt launches Red Sea Open to boost tourism, international profile    Omar Hisham Talaat: Media partnership with 'On Sports' key to promoting Egyptian golf tourism    Sisi expands national support fund to include diplomats who died on duty    Egypt's PM reviews efforts to remove Nile River encroachments    Egypt resolves dispute between top African sports bodies ahead of 2027 African Games    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Belarus's Lukashenko criticises IMF
Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko attacks the IMF for demanding the release of political prisoners in exchange for credit
Reuters Published in Ahram Online on 09 - 09 - 2011

Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko on Friday sharply attacked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for mixing politics with financial matters, saying IMF representatives had insisted on political prisoners being freed in exchange for credit.
The ex-Soviet republic is seeking up to $8 billion in credit as an emergency loan to help the economy weather its worst financial crisis in 10 years.
"Do you know what these economists, financiers, said? They are demanding that political prisoners be released. What does that have to do with the IMF? They should be looking after financial and economic matters. And the first thing they come out with is this demand," he told journalists.
"They have shown their face, finally," he added.
Lukashenko, in power since 1994, is battling an economic crisis, which forced a 36 percent devaluation of the Belarussian rouble earlier this year, and European Union and US sanctions imposed over a crackdown on the political opposition.
Hundreds of protesters, as well as several candidates for the presidency, were arrested last December when Lukashenko was re-elected in a vote which the opposition said was rigged.
According to a letter from Lukashenko to the EU, obtained by Reuters on 1 September, however, he has said he is ready to release all political prisoners by early October. These would include presidential ex-candidates, Andrei Sannikov, Nikola Statkevich and Dmitri Uss.
Despite his sharp words against the IMF, Belarus is moving cautiously towards liberalising trading in the rouble in line with Fund recommendations.
The National Bank said on Friday that it would launch an extra trading session for markets on 14 September to allow free trading of the rouble.
In the extra session, the rouble will trade against foreign currencies such as the dollar and the euro, but the main session will only allow payment for gas and electricity at the rate fixed by the bank.
The official exchange rate, set by the central bank daily, stood at 5.271 per dollar on Friday, but, due to lack of hard currency, the dollar is buying up to 8,000 roubles each on the black market.

Clic here to read the story from its source.