Feb. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Belarus will reduce its refinancing rate, the highest in the world, for the second time this year to 38% on March 1, the Natsionalnyi Bank Respubliki Belarus said in an e-mailed statement today.

That is a cut of 5 percentage points from 43 percent now. The rate was lowered from 45 percent on Feb. 15 after President Aleksandr Lukashenko urged policy makers to “gradually decrease” the rates because the economy can’t withstand their impact on the credit market, according to a television interview with state-run STV on Feb. 6.

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To contact the editor responsible for this story: Torrey Clark at tclark8@bloomberg.net