Belarus Asks IMF for Credit Line as Economy Falters

By Lily Nonomiya

Oct. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Belarus requested aid from the International Monetary Fund, joining Iceland, Pakistan, Hungary and the Ukraine in asking for assistance in weathering the global financial crisis.

``The global financial crisis has adversely affected the Belarusian economy and its access to external finance,'' IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said in a statement released in Washington today.

Discussions with Belarus will start in the ``next few days'' and the amount of the assistance hasn't been decided. Belarus requested assistance that could be supported by a stand-by arrangement, or line of credit that doesn't necessarily have to be used.

The former Soviet state applied for a $2 billion loan and may also seek funds from central banks and commercial banks in other countries, Interfax reported Oct. 22, citing the Belarusian central bank.

Ukraine said this week it may sign a loan worth as much as $15 billion with the IMF next week as it seeks to inject cash into domestic banks.

To contact the reporter on this story: Lily Nonomiya in Tokyo at lnonomiya@bloomberg.net