The International Monetary Fund will not enter talks with crisis-hit Belarus on a loan deal this year, it said on Thursday, citing Minsk's failure to commit to reforms. Belarus asked the Fund in June for a loan of up to $7 billion to help it weather the financial crisis that triggered sharp rouble devaluation and spiralling inflation this year, Reuters reported. But the Fund has said it wanted to see market reforms and a clear commitment to macroeconomic stabilisation first. Minsk has since taken steps such as raising interest rates and allowing free currency trading. However, this month authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko criticised the government for going too far with painful reforms and ordered it to focus on protecting people's well-being and achieving economic growth instead. The Fund responded by warning Belarus such policies were not bringing it closer to a bailout deal. "We do not expect to have programme negotiations this year," Natalia Koliadina, IMF resident representative in Belarus, told Reuters. "While the authorities have implemented some measures which could help (in) achieving macroeconomic stability, we have not seen sufficient evidence of strong commitment, particularly at the highest level, to macroeconomic stabilisation and structural reforms." -- SPA
