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Lukashenka promises exchange market «stabilization» in one and half or two months

The situation in the exchange market will be “stabilized” in one and a half or two months, Alyaksandr Lukashenka said at a government conference held in Minsk on Thursday.

Next week the government will, once and for all, adopt an economic policy that will determine the further development of the country, the Belarusian leader said, according to the government’s news agency BelTA.

“There should not be any further delay,” Mr. Lukashenka said. “Everything should be compiled into a single document by Tuesday or Wednesday and submitted for consideration at the level of the president. And I will personally announce to people how the government and the National Bank will act in this situation.”

“We have one and a half or two months to stabilize the situation in the exchange market,” Mr. Lukashenka said, stressing that this issue should be resolved completely “so that the population will not just listen to and believe us, but feel that the policy that has been adopted will continue to be implemented and the situation will develop in the direction that the president has set.”

As far back as April 16, Mr. Lukashenka promised that the situation in the exchange market would be normalized within a few days. “The situation regarding the exchange rate is a matter of a few days or, maybe, a week,” he said.

About a month later, on May 12, the Belarusian leader said that the situation in the exchange market will be normalized in a month or two.

“Yes, it is a bit difficult today, but we’ll get over it,” he said. “We’ll calmly forget all the foreign currency troubles in a month or two.”

“Belarus will now go its own way,” Mr. Lukashenka said. “Owing to these financial troubles, we have lately been increasingly often offered ideas to the effect that we need reform. We are being delicately pushed for some reform. There are cries, especially from those in the fifth column, that reform is urgently needed, but what kind of reform is needed? What kind of reform do they suggest? They suggest a reform that is aimed at destruction. But we need the following kind of reform: companies should operate and produce goods, which should be in demand in any part of the planet. Then you should sell what you are required to sell to the state and may use the rest [of your foreign currency proceeds] to import anything you like. And then we’ll have no problems with foreign currency. This is the kind of reform we need. It will be a difficult and long way, but it is our way. There cannot be an alternative to it.” //BelaPAN