ABSTRACT | In this lecture, Dr. Luzgina will present the evolution of the currency policy of the Belarusian National Bank taking into account the institutional aspect of its functioning in the context of a strict, closed autocracy. The lecture will discuss the effectiveness of the monetary policy and the impact of the limited central bank independence on the currency market. Specifically, the currency crises in the 1990s, 2009, 2011, and 2014 as well as the transition to a floating exchange rate regime in 2015 will be presented as illustrative cases. The second part of the presentation will be devoted to the implementation of the currency policy in 2022-2023, in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Belarusian Central Bank had to react to the major changes in the situation on the country's currency market when the war affected the economy of Belarus in terms of the severance of trade relations with the EU and Ukraine, but also in terms of the imposition of sanctions.
BIO | Anastasiya Luzgina is an Associate Professor and lecturer at the European Humanities University, Lithuania. She holds a PhD in Economics and has work experience at the Belarusian State University, the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus, and the IMF Resident Representative office in Minsk. Since 2010, she has been working at the Belarusian Economic Research and Outreach Center (BEROC). Anastasiya Luzgina is the author of practice-oriented research papers in such fields as monetary policy, FinTech, E-Government, cryptocurrencies, social entrepreneurship, currency integration, and green finance. In the 2010s, she was affiliated with the Research Center of the Central Bank of Finland and the Fulbright Visiting Scholar programs as well as participated in the regular Spring meetings of the IMF and WB. In recent years, Dr. Luzgina was involved in the FinTech Map of the Republic of Belarus development as well as in the StartupHeart mentor program in 2020.