Lukashenka blasts Belarus govt's initiative of 'wholesale privatization'


Belarus president Alyaksandr Lukashenka has slammed the government for the proposals of wholesale privatization.

“The government’s proposals concerning wholesale privatization cannot be accepted. Even [the proposals] to change the system used to privatize state property,” state-run news agency BelTA quotes Lukashenka as saying.

Any investor willing to acquire an enterprise has to get the approval of the enterprise’s workers first; then the proposal is considered by the municipal government, the central government, and finally the president, he stressed. According to Lukashenka, the system may seem to contain too much red tape, but it is transparent and precise.

If investors bring proposals that should produce a ‘quick and massive effect’, they are welcome to address the central government or the head of state, he added.

“That way the country’s president will be fully responsible for changing the form of ownership of this or that enterprise,” Lukashenka said. “I am not going to give away a single brick because it represents colossal amount of labor.”

“Any enterprise in the country can be sold on certain terms,” said Lukashenka referring to the observance of workers’ rights to proper labor conditions, the modernization of the enterprise, higher tax revenues for the state budget, and the manufacturing of products that will sell well on foreign markets. “We will embrace that kind of privatization. The country does not need other kinds,” summed up the head of state.

Last year the privatization of enterprises and banks was listed as one of the demands of the International Monetary Fund. Conducting deep structural reforms by Belarus is a precondition for launching another new loan program.

Belsat.eu, following BelTA

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