Minsk - Afp
The Belarus central bank raised its main interest rate by 2.0 percentage points to 20 percent on Monday, to fight the worst economic crisis in the country\'s post-Soviet history. The National Bank of Belarus said the rise in key rates, which will take effect on July 13, was being made to contain rising inflation. The former Soviet republic\'s annual inflation reached 20.2 percent for the first five months of the year, with the government warning that the figure may rise to 39 percent by the end of the year.