Zlotnikau: Belarus needs to borrow $1 billion a month

And if the sources of external borrowings run low, Belarus living standards will decrease immediately.

Such opinion in the interview to the Russian edition “Commersant” was expressed by Belarusian economist Leanid Zlotnikau, commenting the speech of Alyaksandr Lukashenka on the “all-Belarusian meeting”.

“I recall how in September Lukashenka was speaking on the trade unions congress and was answering the question: why, if our economy grows so quickly, and GDP grows quickly as well, why aren’t we the richest in comparison with our neighbors, with Russia? Indeed, it’s very difficult to answer this question, as GDP per person is lower than in Russia, lower than in the neighbor countries, except the Ukraine. And hard times are expected in Belarus.

Indeed, decrease in subsidized support from Russia in the form of cheap energy resources lowers the competitiveness of Belarusian production. Well, for example, cement, that we used to sell to Russia – it was competitive there before, and now not. Nowadays net cost of this cement is lower than prices at Russian market.

Naturally, competitiveness changes, as a result of price increase in Russian energy resources. Here, of course, this factor acts. But economy remains a state one, large enterprises are not reformed, natural economy lags behind from specialization and cooperation that took place in the recent decades in other countries. Naturally, the lagging of Belarusian economy must be justified somehow, and evidently hard times are ahead, as nowadays much is consumed at the cost of external borrowings.

And they must be arranged in the amount of $ 1 billion a month, otherwise privatization for some sum is needed. But one milliard a month is to be received, and if suddenly the flow of external currency slows down, this can possibly lead to lower living standards, to throwback from what was achieved before, etc. This will have to be justified by something “, Leanid Zlotnikau said.