Leu Margolin: Either trade with losses or leave market

Belarusian enterprises are noncompetitive.

This is how Leu Margolin commented for the charter97.org web-site on the increase of Belarus’ public debt by 4.4% and the losses of Belarusian milk and meat processing factories.

“The fact that Belarus’ foreign debt increases is not accidental, and it is increasing slowly so far. When Lukashenka manages to receive from two to five billion dollars from Russia, the foreign debt will grow significantly. Unfortunately, this is our fate. While there is the Lukashenka regime in Belarus and no reforms carried out, we can only live on foreign borrowings”, - the economist is sure.

The expert is sure that the Belarusian authorities do not think of how to pay the debt back.

“They live by the principle ‘to hold on for another day’, and debts will have to be paid by future generations, which means our children. Loans may only be taken in the case if it is related to reforming the economy. But now we take loans for eating”, - Leu Margolin believes.

He highlighted that there will be more and more unprofitable enterprises since Belarus’ industry in unreformed.

“Modernization could help in these sectors – meat and milk processing, but a lot of money is neede3d for that. There are no funds even for purchasing new equipment. Lukashenka hope for our agriculture as the main source of foreign currency income. The fact that these enterprises head the list of the unprofitable means that in this sector we sell products below the cost price. And the more we sell. The bigger the losses are”, - the economist added.

He noted that Belarusian meat and milk is of demand in Russia, but there is competition.

“The notorious Customs Union provides that not only Belarus supplies its milk and meat, but also New Zealand, Argentina, France and many more countries, where the level of production and productivity is much higher than ours. And when butter brought from New Zealand is cheaper than Belarusian one, then we may leave the market or sell with losses. That is the essence of the problem”, - Leu Margolin claimed.