Yaraslau Ramanchuk: Government Set to Strike Privatization Bargains :: Charter'97 :: News

Today at the meeting of Belarusian Prime Minister Syarhei Sidorski with a member of the board of Raiffeisen Zentralbank Austria Patrick J. S. Butler a statement has been made that Belarus intends to attract up to EUR 1 billion worth of investments from Raiffeisen Zentralbank Austria (RZB). “A billion worth of investments from Raiffeisen is obviously an excess of own capacity, as Belarusian Priorbank, the Austrian bank’s partner, has suspended granting of ruble credits. Though this financial institution the government is going to strike privatization bargains which are unknown for others still,” an economist Yaraslau Ramanchuk comments on the statement to Charter’97.

As said by Ramanchuk, Austrian bank’s investment could be granted to brewing trade, as Priorbank credited breweries, or to tobacco industry. “As far as there is not a word about privatization in Belarusian budget, and Lukashenka and government hadn’t mentioned they would start this process, a kind of a private affair, like it happened with Slavneft when shares were sold. It doesn’t add to stability and irretrievability for this kind of bargains, it would be possible to challenge them anytime, as for a transparent and full-fledged privatisation a competition, open conditions and equal access for others are needed,” Ramanchuk said.

The economist reminds that Raiffeisen Bank works with Belarusian Priorbank, which cooperates with a number of Belarusian officials. “Priorbank” is obviously trying to be a place where Belarusian oligarchs would legalize their assets. It is possible that not a privatization, but distribution of property among “inner circle” people, forming of oligarch’s clans. A so-called “monetization of one’s position in nomenclature” would take place, when officials would “sell” their status to investors they had been working with previously. Besides, it is known that Raiffeisen Bank is not a carrier if transparent corporation practices like other West European banks,” Yaraslau Ramanchuk said.