Republic

MINSK, 25 February (BelTA) – The currency regulation in the country should be toughened, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said at a meeting with new government members and reappointed officials, BelTA has learned. “I would like to draw special attention of the Prime Minister and the Chairman of the Board of the National Bank to the fact that the current approach to currency earnings is inadmissible. The situation now is such: it is just few hundreds or maybe dozens of major enterprises that earn currency in the country, and the Prime Minister and the Chairman of the Board of the National Bank, relying on some obscure theories of free market, give this money away to anybody,” Alexander Lukashenko said. He noted that if we have available currency in the country, we can use it. “If we do not, then we need to ask people who have it. We need to stop taking currency away from companies and organizations that earn it and give it to those who do not,” Alexander Lukashenko said addressing the chairman of the Board of the National Bank. “This is a fundamental issue for our economy and we had better adjust our policies rather than rely on some market theories,” the head of state said. “I am not saying that we must toughen the rules for all. People are sacred. People do not create problems with currency. The population has bought several million dollars and put them in banks. These are enterprises that are undisciplined, the energy sector and others included. Therefore, we must make some adjustments here,” he said. “I am confident that this will yield good results and we will not have problems with currency, exchange rate and so on,” he added.

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