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Lukashenka pledges not to restrict import of consumer goods

Alyaksandr Lukashenka promised on Thursday that the government would not take steps to restrict the import of consumer goods, BelaPAN said.

Speaking at a government conference, Mr. Lukashenka said that "only in tough competition with foreign-made goods, by raising the quality and consumer properties of the product, can companies prevail and sell their goods both within the country and abroad," government-controlled news agency BelTA quoted him as saying.

The Belarusian leader denied plans for substituting domestic goods for the country's entire import. "This is unrealistic and unnecessary. But if there's demand, if our people are ready to buy these goods at any price, if there's a broad market, why are new plants not started to satisfy this solvent demand?" he wondered.

According to Mr. Lukashenka, many goods that are now imported by Belarus can be manufactured in the country's small towns and villages using existing equipment and buildings. "They should simply put things in order and organize their manufacture. We still import flower pots, underwear storage boxes, axe handles, rakes and even toothpicks from Poland, Vietnam, China," he said.

Belarus' export revenues reached a record high of more than $35 billion this year, but even this money is not enough to pay for the country's import, Mr. Lukashenka said. "The problem has not been solved. Import substitution has not become a basic, vital issue. Many top government officials, especially in the provinces, continue acting in a way as if it did not concern them," he was quoted as saying.

In 2011, Belarus' import accounted for 75 percent of its Gross Domestic Product, Mr. Lukashenka revealed. "That means that we have to spend three fourths of what we have earned on buying foreign-made goods," he said.

He described securing an export surplus as the economy's strategic task.