| alazaro |
Enviado - 01 agosto 2008 : 21:29:52 |
Minsk aprueba ambicioso programa de privatización para 2008-2010
FINANZAS COM / Noticias EFE
21/07/2008
Moscú, 21 jul (EFE).- El gobierno de Bielorrusia aprobó hoy un ambicioso programa de privatización para el período 2008-2010, en lo que supone un paso más en la apertura y liberalización de la última economía planificada del continente.
Las autoridades bielorrusas se proponen ceder a manos privadas hasta 519 empresas, de ellas 179 este año, según informó la agencia oficial Belta.
En 2008 se planea privatizar fábricas como "Vavilova" o compañías como "Optoelektronniye", y en un futuro grandes corporaciones del sector de automoción como "Gomselmash" y energéticas como "Gomeltransneft Druzhba".
El presidente bielorruso, Alexandr Lukashenko, adalid del control estatal de los grandes activos del país desde que asumió el poder en 1994, se ha visto obligado a dar un giro copernicano a su política económica.
La razón es que Rusia le ha informado de que dejará de subsidiar en los próximos años la economía de su país con suministros de petróleo y gas a precios preferenciales.
El modelo bielorruso, basado durante los últimos 13 años en el rígido control de la economía por el Estado y el sistema de granjas estatales y colectivas, se sostuvo gracias a que Rusia subsidiaba la economía en un 60-70 por ciento.
Desde su llegada al poder tras la victoria en las primeras elecciones presidenciales de la historia bielorrusa, Lukashenko se mostró partidario de la mano dura contra los oligarcas para evitar el saqueo de las propiedades del Estado, como ocurrió en Rusia y otras repúblicas ex soviéticas.
Ahora, en un intento de combatir las secuelas del aumento del precio de los hidrocarburos rusos, Lukashenko ha suscrito en los últimos meses varios acuerdos de cooperación energética con Venezuela.
En diciembre pasado, el líder bielorruso firmó durante su visita a Caracas un acuerdo para la exploración y extracción de crudos pesados en la Faja del Orinoco, la mayor reserva petrolera del mundo.
Lukashenko espera profundizar la cooperación económica con Venezuela durante la inminente visita del líder bolivariano, Hugo Chávez, que llegará este miércoles a Minsk.
(http://www.finanzas.com/noticias/economia/2008-07-21/26906_minsk-aprueba-ambicioso-programa-privatizacion.html) |
| alazaro |
Enviado - 05 noviembre 2009 : 18:32:14 |
Bielorrusia recibe nuevo crédito de FMI
RIA NOVOSTI, Moscú
26/ 10/ 2009
Minsk, 26 de octubre, RIA Novosti. - El Banco Nacional de Bielorrusia confirmó hoy la recepción de un nuevo crédito de 699,5 millones de dólares por parte del Fondo Monetario Internacional (FMI).
Con éste, suman casi 2,2 mil millones de dólares los empréstitos que Bielorrusia recibió del FMI en el marco de una línea crediticia stand-by por valor total de 3,6 mil millones de dólares. La primera entrega, por un importe de US$800 millones, fue realizada en enero de 2009; el segundo crédito, por US$680 millones, fue en julio pasado.
El FMI consensuó con el Gobierno de Bielorrusia un programa de reformas que prevé en particular la liberalización de los precios, la devaluación de la moneda local en un 20% y su vinculación a una cesta monetaria, un fuerte recorte del gasto público y la contención de la demanda interna.
(http://sp.rian.ru/onlinenews/20091026/123675166.html) |
| alazaro |
Enviado - 03 noviembre 2009 : 13:44:56 |
World Bank to loan $200 million to Belarus by year's end
RIA NOVOSTI, Moscow
23/10/2009
MINSK, October 23 (RIA Novosti) - The World Bank plans to lend $200 million to Belarus for structural reforms in the country's economy and social sector, and to stimulate private business, the bank's office in Minsk said on Friday.
The 16-year loan with a six-year repayment recess could be transferred to Belarus by the end of the current year.
"Talks were held with representatives of Belarus and the World Bank, during which the conditions of the loan were agreed," the bank said.
The loan protocol was signed by Belarusian Finance Minister Andrei Kharkovets and World Bank Project Director for Belarus Pablo Saavedra.
Belarus earlier this year received $185 million from the World Bank, which plans to finance some $260 million in Belarusian projects in 2010. A waste management project is also planned for 2010.
(http://en.rian.ru/world/20091023/156568509.html) |
| alazaro |
Enviado - 13 septiembre 2009 : 16:39:02 |
IMF Urges Belarus To Tighten Credit To Boost Reserves
By Tom Barkley, Dow Jones Newswires
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
August 27, 2009
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones) - Belarus authorities should tighten credit conditions to restore reserves and protect the country against additional external shocks, the International Monetary Fund said Thursday.
Following a mission to the former Soviet republic, which has obtained a $3.52 billion loan, the fund said government-supported lending should be curtailed to avoid exacerbating a balance-of-payment problem.
"To improve the external current account balance and preserve reserves, the authorities need to maintain a tight macroeconomic policy stance and contain domestic demand," the IMF said in a statement.
While the central bank has already raised interest rates, the IMF called for "strict limits" on government lending programs.
The fund has forecast a 3% contraction for the Belarussian economy this year, followed by growth of 2.5% in 2010. Amid a drop in exports, the current account gap is projected to approach 10% of gross domestic product this year and remain above 5% in the medium term.
In June, the IMF approved an increase of more than $1 billion in a 15-month standby arrangement granted in January to help close a substantial financing gap. Belarus policymakers agreed to a number of steps, including allowing the ruble to depreciate within the exchange-rate band, tightening monetary policy and stepping up structural reforms while maintaining sound fiscal policies.
The IMF mission said Belarus had made progress in these efforts, including widening the currency band and remaining committed to a balanced budget for 2009. It urged the government to defer a public wage increase and keep local government deficits under control.
While the exchange-rate policy and level is seen as appropriate, the IMF said the country should eventually move toward a more flexible system once the institutional framework is in place.
(http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090827-716474.html) |
| alazaro |
Enviado - 26 agosto 2009 : 13:18:15 |
IMF says low reserves main problem for Belarus
Reporting by Andrei Makhovsky
Writing by Toni Vorobyova
Forbes.com / REUTERS
25.08.2009
MINSK, Aug 25 (Reuters) - The Belarussian economy's main problem is the low level of gold and forex reserves, an International Monetary Fund official said on Tuesday.
'The low level of gold and forex reserves is the main problem,' Marek Belka, head of the IMF's European department, said at a meeting with the Belarussian Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky.
Belarus had reserves of $3.62 billion on Aug. 1, according to domestic data. IMF calculates the reserves at $3.16 billion.
(http://www.forbes.com/feeds/afx/2009/08/25/afx6811334.html) |
| alazaro |
Enviado - 08 agosto 2009 : 23:32:48 |
FMO opens $5m credit line to Belarus’ Bank for Small Business
The National Center of Legal Information of the Republic of Belarus
04/08/2009
MINSK, 4 August (BelTA) - The Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO) has opened a $5 million credit line to the Belarusian Bank for Small Business (BBSB), BelTA learnt from the bank’s marketing department.
The agreement to open a credit line was signed between the Belarusian Bank for Small Business and FMO in Minsk not long ago. The main goal is to develop the programme of micro-lending of the small and medium-sized business and acquisition of necessary instruments for bank’s infrastructure development. The credit line is opened for five years with a two-year delay in payment.
On 17 December 2008 the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) committed $5 million to the Belarusian Bank for Small Business to develop a microfinance programme.
From October 2008 till July 2009 the BBSB issued more than 580 loans worth of $6.6 million. The bank lending to the private sector of the Belarusian economy has been increasing. In July the bank granted 84 loans at the total amount of $1.2 million. Of them 32 loans were given to the small business in Grodno and the Grodno oblast.
The Belarusian Bank for Small Business is Belarus’ first bank providing its services to sole traders, small and medium-sized business. The Bank’s shareholders are the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Finance Corporation Commerce, the Netherlands Development Finance Company, SwedFund (Sweden), Bank AG (Germany), Commerzbank (Germany), Kfw Bank (Germany), ShoreBank International (the USA), ShoreCap International (the USA),. The bank has opened so far two offices in Minsk and one in Grodno. Three more offices will be opened this year as well.
The Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO) is one of the co-founders of the Belarusian Bank for Small Business. FMO invests risk capital in companies and financial institutions in developing countries. The Netherlands government holds a controlling stake (51%) in the bank. FMO's finance portfolio includes projects in 71 countries.
(http://law.by/work/EnglPortal.nsf/0/D1672B1439BF8184C2257608005394C5?OpenDocument) |
| alazaro |
Enviado - 07 julio 2009 : 15:24:06 |
MF loans 680 million to Belarus
M&C - Business News
July 2, 2009
Minsk - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wednesday loaned to Belarus 680 million dollars badly needed to cover a widening budget deficit, the Belapan news agency reported.
It was the second tranche of a credit programme aimed at increasing Belarus' gold reserves and creating an emergency fund to cushion future economic shocks, said Anatoly Drozdov, National Bank of Belarus (NBB) spokesman.
The IMF in January approved a stand-by loan to Belarus with a total value of 2.46 billion dollars, aimed at stabilising the former Soviet republic's economy.
The first tranche of 788 million dollars transferred in January was to have been followed by a second tranche in April, but delays in NBB reforms demanded by the Fund delayed the second portion of the loan until July.
The IMF after reviewing Belarus' economic situation in late June increased the total value of the stand-by loan programme to 3.52 million dollars.
Belarusian economic reforms needed to qualify for further instalments of the loan include elimination of deficit spending, an overall balanced 2009 budget, tighter NBB money supply policy, a widening of the float to the national currency the rouble, IMF officials said.
Aleksander Lukashenko, Belarus' authoritarian President, in past years had resisted accepting loans from the IMF saying the agency's credits were part of a Western Capitalist plot to take over the country's centrally-planned economy.
Belarus' economy historically has depended on trade with Russia. Worsening relations with the Kremlin have forced Lukashenko to search for government income and markets elsewhere.
Kremlin fuel price hikes and excise barriers have left Belarus with its trade deficit tripled in size oover the first quarter of 2009 alone, and plummeting budget revenues, the Interfax news agency reported.
Read more: http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/business/news/article_1487399.php/IMF_loans_680_million_to_Belarus_#ixzz0KaGJqf08&C |
| alazaro |
Enviado - 21 mayo 2009 : 23:40:36 |
Belarus diversifies out of crisis, will stay afloat
By Andrei Makhovsky and Michael Stott
(Editing by Sophie Hares)
GUARDIAN.CO.UK
Tuesday May 5 2009
MINSK, May 5 (Reuters) - The global economic crisis has forced Belarus to find new export markets, but strong state control is keeping the economy on track and preventing mass unemployment, President Alexander Lukashenko told Reuters.
"It is our exports that have been hit hard," Lukashenko said in an interview at the presidential offices. "The way out of this is to diversify our foreign trade".
Before the crisis, Belarus was selling around 45 percent of its production to Europe and a similar amount to former Soviet master Russia, with only 10 percent going to other markets.
Now, Lukashenko said Belarus was seeking markets in Latin America -- especially Brazil and Venezuela -- North America and Asia. Its main exports are potash, oil products and heavy machinery.
The Belarussian president said the European Union's forthcoming Eastern Partnership -- an initiative to bind Brussels closer to six former Soviet republics including Belarus -- was of interest because it could boost trade and investment.
"We find attractive the pragmatic, practical side of the Eastern Partnership," Lukashenko said.
"Half our trade is with the EU, investment, technology. Europe has long turned to us in economic terms. It is the economic element that is important to us. Everything starts with the economy."
Belarus has one of the biggest state sectors of any former Soviet republic, but the world economic crisis has cut growth from 10 percent last year to almost nothing this year.
Lukashenko, in power since 1994, gave no forecast for economic growth this year, but said "the fact that the state has remained in every sector of the economy" had helped his country.
"You (in the West) started to liberalise excessively, turned the economy into a casino and believed it would go on like that for a long time," he said. "We have maintained the economic levers of the state".
Lukashenko said there had been some reductions in working hours and that "wages are not rising as much as we would like".
But he insisted there would not be mass unemployment, even with an increase in the number of qualified Belarussians coming home after losing their jobs abroad.
"The number of job openings and job seekers is about equal," Lukashenko said. "But in as much as internal demand is picking up and we are expanding our construction capacity -- we are building more housing -- I don't think there will be a problem with unemployment."
Prices rose in Belarus rose in the first quarter of the year by 6.1 percent, one of the highest rates of inflation of any former Soviet republic, and the Belarussian rouble has lost 27 of its value so far this year.
But Lukashenko remained optimistic.
"This is our third crisis (in 15 years), but I believe we can overcome it as matters depend on us," he said.
(http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/8489904) |
| alazaro |
Enviado - 19 marzo 2009 : 22:41:37 |
Rusia concede un préstamo de 500 millones de dólares a Bielorrusia
Finanzas.com, Madrid / Noticias EFE
07/03/2009
Moscú, 7 mar (EFE).- Rusia concedió hoy un préstamo de 500 millones de dólares (más de 395 millones de euros) a Bielorrusia en el marco del crédito de estabilización de 2.000 millones de dólares (1.582 millones de euros) acordado por ambos países en noviembre del año pasado.
El acuerdo intergubernamental fue suscrito en esta ocasión por los ministros de Finanzas bielorruso, Andréi Jarkovets, y ruso, Alexéi Kudrin, según informó la agencia rusa Interfax.
Bielorrusia, que podría recibir ya el dinero la próxima semana, tendrá un plazo de quince años para devolver el préstamo.
Minsk ya recibió el pasado año mil millones de dólares y los restantes 500 del crédito de estabilización serán transferidos en los próximos meses.
En 2007, Rusia ya prestó a Bielorrusia otros 1.500 millones de dólares (1.187 millones de euros) para compensar el aumento del precio de los suministro del gas ruso.
Ambos países han decidido intensificar sus esfuerzos por implantar el rublo ruso como moneda conjunta de ambos países y coordinar sus políticas económicas para hacer frente a la crisis financiera mundial.
El Gobierno bielorruso aprobó el pasado año un ambicioso programa de privatización para el período 2008-2010, en lo que supuso un paso más en la apertura y liberalización de la última economía planificada del continente.
El presidente bielorruso, Alexandr Lukashenko, adalid del control estatal de los grandes activos del país desde que asumió el poder en 1994, se ha visto obligado a dar un giro copernicano a su política económica.
El modelo bielorruso, basado durante los últimos trece años en el rígido control de la economía por el Estado y el sistema de granjas estatales y colectivas, se sostuvo hasta ahora gracias a que Rusia subsidiaba la economía en un 60-70 por ciento.
(http://www.finanzas.com/noticias/economia/2009-03-07/98366_rusia-concede-prestamo-millones-dolares.html) |
| alazaro |
Enviado - 23 enero 2009 : 23:00:02 |
Belarus ruble sinks 20 percent, shocking citizens
By YURAS KARMANAU
Cbonds.info / The Associated Press
06.01.2009
MINSK, Belarus (AP) — Belarus' central bank sharply devalued the Belarusian ruble Friday, allowing the currency to plunge 20 percent to help stop the hemorrhaging of its reserves. The move came as an unwelcome shock to ordinary citizens.
The National Bank said the devaluation was aimed at raising the competitiveness of the Belarusian economy, which has been battered by the global financial crisis. It also was a condition of a $2.5 billion loan from the IMF announced Wednesday.
In the past six months the National Bank has spent about a quarter of its gold and hard-currency reserves keeping the Belarusian ruble stable against the dollar, euro and Russian ruble. The bank said its reserves stood at $3.8 billion on Dec. 1.
The Belarusian ruble is now trading at 2,650 to the dollar, 3,703 to the euro and 90.6 to the Russian ruble.
"I feel deceived by the government," said Galina Bychkevich, a 53-year-old history teacher at a currency-exchange point Friday. Her monthly salary of 800,000 rubles, which the day before was worth $360, had dropped to $300.
"(President Alexander) Lukashenko loved to talk about the wild capitalism in the West and stability in Belarus, but now that fairy tale is over," she said.
The devaluation will make imported goods more expensive and will likely drive up inflation. It comes after the government has already announced a 20 percent hike in electricity, heating and other municipal bills.
Stanislav Bogdankevich, a former central bank chief who is now an opposition leader, said the Belarusian economy is in serious trouble, kept afloat mainly by support from Russia.
The economy is still largely Soviet-style, with 80 percent of industry in state hands, and heavily reliant on cheap energy from Russia. Russia also has offered billions of dollars in loans.
The National Bank said it spent $572 million supporting the Belarusian ruble in the three-month period of August to October. The bank has not released figures for the final two months of the year, but Bogdankevich estimated it had spent as much as $1 billion in November and December.
"If the gold and currency reserves continued to decline at such a pace, soon the country would have no reserves at all," the former central banker said.
Russia's ruble also has come under extreme pressure during the financial crisis. It has shed more than 20 percent of its value against the dollar since its high in early August.
The Kremlin has been anxious to avoid a repeat of the 1998 financial crisis, when Russians rushed to withdraw their savings as the ruble plummeted suddenly. So it has been letting the ruble fall bit by bit in a managed float, intervening when necessary by using foreign currency reserves to buy rubles.
Analysts estimate the Russian Central Bank has spent tens of billions of dollars to support the ruble during the global financial crisis.
(http://www.cbonds.info/all/eng/news/index.phtml/params/id/420122) |
| alazaro |
Enviado - 20 enero 2009 : 23:51:22 |
FMI acuerda prestar 2.500 millones de dólares a Bielorrusia
Finanzas.com / Noticias EFE
31/12/2008
Washington, 31 dic (EFE).- La gerencia del FMI ha alcanzado un acuerdo con Bielorrusia por el cual pondrá 2.500 millones de dólares en préstamos a disposición de ese país, el último de una serie de naciones del este europeo en aprietos por la crisis.
El director gerente del Fondo Monetario Internacional (FMI), Dominique Strauss-Kahn, informó hoy en un comunicado del pacto, que debe ser ratificado por el Consejo Ejecutivo de la entidad para entrar en vigor.
Está previsto que ese órgano, que representa a los 185 países miembros, trate el tema en enero y si da su aprobación Bielorrusia recibirá de forma inmediata un préstamo de unos 800 millones de dólares.
El resto del dinero será desembolsado en un período de 15 meses si el país europeo cumple las metas marcadas en el documento.
"Bielorrusia afronta una situación económica difícil", señaló en el comunicado Strauss-Kahn, quien citó una bajada de los precios de sus exportaciones y de la demanda externa, y sus dificultades para obtener crédito externo.
El acuerdo prevé que su Gobierno recorte la inversión pública y las ayudas a los bancos, y congele los salarios de los funcionarios públicos, al tiempo que dedicará más recursos a asistir a los pobres.
En los últimos meses, Letonia, Hungría, Ucrania y Georgia se han visto obligadas a llamar a la puerta del FMI ante la crisis.
Fuera de Europa del Este han firmado acuerdos con el Fondo Islandia y Pakistán.
(http://www.finanzas.com/noticias/economia/2008-12-31/77934_acuerda-prestar-2500-millones-dolares.html) |
| alazaro |
Enviado - 04 diciembre 2008 : 18:39:59 |
INTERVIEW
Belarus - Europe's last dictatorship or last untapped mkt?
Ben Aris in London
BUSINESS NEW EUROPE (bne)
December 1, 2008
The weather over Westminster was as gloomy as the mood in the City a few miles away. So it was a bit of a surprise to arrive at Church House next to the abbey in central London at the end of November and find a long queue snaking through the building's corridors of investment bankers and businessmen who were registering for Belarus' first ever investment forum.
Investors have just lost a lot of money by investing in assets that turned out to be riskier than they first seemed. Now they were turning out in droves to consider investing in a country that's quite clearly the riskiest place in Europe to invest. Yet they listened attentively as Belarus Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky and other top officials reeled off the various attractions of their small republic in the north of Europe.
And they appeared seriously tempted by what they heard. Several foreign companies have already tested the water and found it to be warm. Others are looking at Belarus as the last place in Europe where the same spectacular quadruple-digit gains can be made from simple transformation – if you get it right.
"I came to see what they had to say," said one CEE investor, who preferred not to give his name. "Clearly, the country has a lot of problems to resolve. Clearly, the government is still pretty backward as far as understanding the needs of business. But just as clearly, the returns from a successful investment can be huge."
Belarus is opening up fast, but that process will go "step by step," insists Andrei Kobyakov, the deputy prime minister, who spent over an hour talking to bne and a handful of other journalists. "Don't push us. We are an independent-minded people and we don't like pressure. We have a tradition of resistance, but we are a regular European people. We understand what needs to be done – just we will do it step by step," says Kobyakov batting away the inevitable question about politics.
The conference will almost certainly be a historic landmark for the country, reminiscent of the first Russian Investment Forums that used to be held across the road at the Queen Elizabeth Conference Centre, where Russia's great and powerful showcased their country to the City in the 1990s.
This was the first time Belarus' elite has ventured out of Minsk (indeed, until a few months ago it wasn't clear whether all the officials would get visas due to a EU travel ban). Kobyakov played point man to the money with a professional PowerPoint presentation that was stuffed with the sort of statistics that are the bread and butter of investment banking. Obviously the Minskovites have put a lot of thought into their pitch and are serious about bringing home some deals.
Stepping out
But the Belarusians have their work cut out to undo 10 years of pariah status. US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice's label of the country as the "last dictatorship in Europe" has stuck and it will take a great deal of scrapping to sell investors the alternative strap line of the "last untapped market in Europe."
Surrounded by booming economies and sitting right on the EU's eastern border, reforms have been trickling down through the country for about two years. Some 60% of GDP for the small republic of just over 10m people comes from trade and simply dealing with western counterparties (even if they are Latvians or Lithuanians), was enough to force things like recognisable book keeping on many Belarusian companies.
A row with Russia over the transit of oil and gas through Belarusian territory was the catalyst for the sudden pick-up in the pace of reform at the start of this year – but not the only reason. Minsk has also suddenly embraced the nettle of reform because after several years of double-digit economic growth, it can't continue growing at the same pace unless it starts to loosen the government's grip on the economy. "The time has come to lift the level of development of the economy. We need foreign investment as we can continue to develop without it, but we can go faster with foreign investment. Five years ago the problem was how to use what we had. Now all that potential left over from the Soviet Union has already been used up. Now we need to upgrade," says Kobyakov.
Minsk may be stepping out, but it's still walking with pigeon steps. The government is still on a steep learning curve and years of acrimony mean it is going to take time (years, perhaps) for the two sides to learn to trust each other. Nowhere is this more visible than in the slow pace of the negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a $2bn standby loan requested by Minsk in October. "The negotiations are not easy," says Kobyakov. "We don't need the money at any price… In fact we don't need the money at all. It is more of a cushion that we can use depending on how long this crisis goes on for."
The deal with Russia for another $2bn signed about the same time went much more smoothly and Minsk had already received the first $1bn tranche by the end of November, with a second one due in April. The government is now wondering what to do with the cash: either use it to support the currency or pre-pay for gas supplies.
Untouched banks
The economy may be small, but that has been Belarus' advantage in the current crisis. Almost completely cut off from the rest of Europe's finance system – the country has issued only one bond in the international capital markets - the local bank sector has been all but untouched by the global meltdown.
When asked whether the government had been forced to support the bank sector with cash, Kobyakov, bemused by the question, replied: "The government has decided not to directly support the bank system, but we are in the process of realising projects and the government participates in these as an investor… Our bank system is not the same as in the rest of the CIS. The main idea of the banks is to serve and support industry, so the banks are mediators that help the government realise its goals."
"Unlike our colleagues we don't throw money into banks that don't know what to do with it," says Kobyakov. "When we give money to a bank we know exactly where this money will go and what it will be used for."
In other words, the government uses the country's banks first and foremost as a giant treasury system, which offer traditional banking services as a side business. However, privately owned foreign banks have entered the country in a wave of acquisitions over the last year and even the local banks have been actively offering products like consumer loans and express credits. But as the state owns the biggest banks in the country – state-owned Belarusbank is the 21st biggest bank in the CIS and towers over the other local banks – none of the banks had a chance to build up the liabilities that could have got them into trouble during the recent financial fracas.
Russian state-owned giant VTB Bank got the ball rolling with an acquisition in 2007 and several others, like Russia's Alfa Bank and Bank of Georgia, have bought banks, while Raiffeisen Bank has increased its stake in Priorbank. The share of foreign capital in the banking sector reached 22.5% of total assets in November and the government has already lifted its cap on foreign bank assets from 25% to 50%. "We want our banks to be more powerful, as the existing system doesn't have enough resources to meet the needs of the economy," says Kobyakov. "Some of the large enterprises here are not satisfied with working with just one bank. They need several. We need international partners who are big and strong and can bring their expertise."
Privatising brand names
The government's strategy for the time being is to promote exports and here Belarus has real comparative advantages. The Soviet leader Joseph Stalin broke up industries on purpose so one region would make the tyres, another car doors and a third bumpers. Directors of Soviet factories were told to load their production on trains, but had little idea where they were sent. Many of these trains actually ended up in Minsk, which was where the Soviet Union's best workers were found and so were responsible for the final assembly of many products. To this day, Minsk remains a world-beater in some industrial sectors. Its giant MAZ trucks are used in mines around the world and the Minsk fridge brand is as well known in the CIS as the Dutch maker of white goods Philips is in the west. "Our main goal is to support exporters, but not to subsidise them, as this is against the rules of the [World Trade Organisation]," says Kobyakov.
The export sector is the one place where the current crisis has touched the relatively closed republic. Trade financing deals used to be done with two months of prepayments. Now Minsk is being made to wait for up to two months after delivery of goods to get paid. Most of the money the state has poured into the banking sector – several trillion Belarusian rubles – has gone to cover trade financing deals for the country's main exporters and several leading western banks have cut their credit lines to Belarus companies. "We are currently reorganizing our trade financing to bring the business into the [western] banks we know, but we need money to cover the shortfall as it has caused us cash flow problems," says Kobyakov.
Exports are all well and good, but the state will keep the choicest sector for itself in the meantime. But what has got the investors most excited is the privatisation programme that will free most of the other sectors for private ownership. Several exciting industries like telecoms will go under gavel and transform some 500 companies into joint stock companies over the next three years. Foreign investors have been invited to participate – with out restriction – in the process. Given the international financial crisis is the plan still realistic?
"We adopted the programme this summer. Lets see how the crisis goes," says Kobyakov. The point of the programme is not just to earn money for the budget. It is important what price we sell these enterprises, but more important is who is going to buy these companies and if they can increase the productivity of the enterprise. We need investment and we need new technology. That's the goal."
(http://businessneweurope.eu/story1382) |
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