Republic of Belarus

Abstract

The National Bank of the Republic of Belarus (NBRB) is reforming its monetary policy framework in line with recommendations of past IMF TA missions and its Road Map for Transitioning to Inflation Targeting with the aim of eventually adopting inflation targeting (IT). Transitioning to IT would require, among other measures and reforms, strengthening the monetary policy forecasting and analysis system (FPAS) and better integrating the core quarterly projection model (QPM) into the decision-making process. This TA mission was the fifth from series of quarterly IMF TA missions focused on the FPAS capacity building. It was mainly aimed to simulate initial conditions and compile a QPM-based forecast scenario as a part of a practical forecasting round at the NBRB in March. Moreover, the mission worked with the modeling team to deepen its understanding of the QPM’s role in policy decision making and in internal communication.