Official Minsk Embarks On a Fight with Odd Money :: Charter'97 :: News

It appears that the Belarusian state determined to re-count all the cash, possessed by the population. With this in mind, the Justice Ministry developed a draft project on stepping up measures to tie the cash possessions of the populace. The state intends to impose a total control over the expenses and, of course, the sources of income of their countrymen. In case the program gets ratified and fulfilled, Belarusians will only be able to purchase anything worth over $200 through a bank transfer operation. And it won’t matter whether the individual is paying in foreign cash or in the ruble equivalent.

The government also masterminds a serious blow against unaccounted cash flow at the apartment and car sales markets. The sale and purchase of vehicles by individuals will also be done through bank transfers. Given there’s no confirmation of bank payment, the cars bought won’t get registered in traffic police. This has to do with both the automobiles, living quarters and other commodity worth more than $200. Any cash payments will be deemed illegitimate, while the controlling bodies will simply confiscate the stuff and the money.

Commenting on this document, a prominent Belarusian economist Mikhail Kovalev underscored that the authorities again deal with the consequence rather than the reason. The problem lies in a different sphere, he added. A cash flow, accompanied by growing salaries, has to be tied with the domestically manufactured commodity. All they need to do is to free the producers and enable them to manufacture whatever there’s a demand for. If so, there’ll be no problems of the kind. However, one can’t expect to tie the incomes forcefully. In the event the afore-mentioned program gets accepted, the Belarusian money, as different from other currencies, will have diverse cost: cash will have one rate, while cashless transfers – another.