Leanid Zaika: “Lukashenka will demand Belarusians to pay debt on New Year's Eve”

After Belarus took a new loan from Russia, every Belarusian owes 4,000 dollars.

Economist Leanid Zaika, the head of the analytical centre Strategy, spoke to charter97.org about Putin's decision to give Minsk a $2 billion loan.

“This money is given not to the Belarusian economy. Belarus could have received 7-8 billion dollars this year, but failed to do it due to populism and inefficiency. In this regard, the sum of 2 billion is enough not to die of starvation and to preserve the power,” the expert says.

The analyst is confident Belarus shouldn't take loans, because the country's current debt is 37 billion dollars.

“The debt will be 39 billion. Will anyone feel better? Next year will be interesting. The current debt per capita is $4,000. Aliaksandr Lukashenka and Mikhail Miasnikovich will phone a flat in a Minsk district on New Year's Eve and say: 'How many people do live in this flat? Four? So, your owe 16,000 dollars.' When I speak to people and say a family of four has a debt of 16,000 dollars, people don't believe me. But it is true,” Leanid Zaika said.

The economist added: “Without this loan we wouldn't be able to survive.”

“In this case, we could think what we are doing. By the way, it's about time to do it,” Strategy's head thinks.

We remind that Vladimir Putin promised to give Belarus a loan of $2 billion at yesterday's session of the State Council of Russia and Belarus.

“The Government of the Russian Federation made the decision to assist our colleagues, given the situation in the global markets, and offer the Republic of Belarus a loan of up to $2 billion in 2014,” he said.