Government proposes number of specific steps to support people and economy

The government announced that in the first quarter it managed to redirect the exports of trucks, buses and tires from markets of "unfriendly countries" to Russia, poultry to China, and tractors to Zimbabwe. New markets are under constant control of the Council of Ministers. China, India, Iran, Vietnam, Brazil and Egypt are priorities. Now there is a demand for our food products, woodworking products and medicines. 

Roman Golovchenko, Prime Minister of Belarus: 

The flows are slowly being redirected to other markets. First of all, Russia and other EAEU states, the African continent and Asian countries. We are increasing the supply of engineering products to Africa. Agricultural equipment is very active there now. Our potash flows are also actively reoriented towards Asian, African, South American countries and China. Now there is such a natural diversification of exports. Of course, we will reduce the EU's share, although it is still quite significant. So we will continue to trade with the EU with the exception of those items which they have sanctioned.  I'm sure that's absolutely not going to last, because we all see the turmoil in the consumer market in the EU countries. Certainly it has to do with falling living standards, with inflation, with high prices. We believe that the governments of these countries will soon be under heavy pressure from politicians representing the interests of the citizens of these countries. We can all see the upheaval of the consumer market in the EU countries. Of course, this is connected with the fall of the standard of living of the population, inflation, high prices. Actions taken against Russia and Belarus are of ricochet nature, and no one knows who will suffer more from these measures.

And the Belarusian government, as part of the measures to support people and the economy in the current circumstances, is proposing a number of specific steps. These decisions were taken a week after a meeting with the President, where the socio-economic policy was discussed. 

The government proposes a number of specific steps within the framework of measures to support people and the economy

As the Council of Ministers told us, utility rates will be frozen. It means that the planned increase in the cost of hot water, heating and electricity from June will not happen, and the amounts in the vouchers will remain at the level of the beginning of the year. They will be able to save Br17 million in the expenditures of the Belarusians only on this basis. 

A number of steps related to business, in particular, the tax authorities have been instructed to shorten the time for refunding overpaid VAT to five days. This measure will increase the working capital of enterprises and will help many of them to do without foreign loans.

The Ministry of Economy was instructed to prepare a draft decree not to charge enterprises with depreciation on fixed assets and intangible assets for a year and a half. This will reduce the cost of production to 6.5 percent. 

It was also decided to develop a draft law on the legalization of "parallel imports" of goods. It is a question of the possibility to import the original not only to the rightholders or their official distributors, but also to any importers. This is a temporary measure will guarantee the saturation of its market. 

And one more solution. Businesses will be able to enter into contracts for the delivery of goods without procurement procedures. This will speed up logistics and help manufacturers choose their carrier directly. The Ministry of Transport is now working on the draft document.