| home archive search downloads subscription contacts |
 | |||||||||
Issue of Imports Will be Dealt with During the Financial CrisisThe worldwide financial crisis caused the Belarusian government to pay closer attention to imports. It initiated a new crusade against them.Ministry of Trade prepared the list of imported goods, disappearing of which “will not influence greatly country’s consumer market”, according to the officials The list includes over 30 items of both food and non-food merchandise.. It concerns import of beer, non-alcoholic beverages, chocolate, cheeses, ice-cream, bread and other food items, while TV sets, bicycles, furniture and other non-food products are also listed. The Ministry of Trade has decided to reduce the volume of import of aforementioned goods by half by the November-December 2008. Moreover, if a company imports or stores the goods included in the list in rented facilities, contracts with this company shall be terminated since it imports “groundless” goods. Furthermore, in case of goods in the “black” list, it was suggested to introduce instalment payments during 180 days, which makes the delivery of goods unattractive for foreign companies. One of the Belarusian importers commented the situation: “Foreign producers would not go for it. It is highly unlikely that somebody agrees to wait half a year while the Belarusian importer pays for delivered goods. Even in better times such instalments were never offered to us”. One of the solutions seems to be intermediate trade when a dealer buys goods shipped into the country and resells it to the importer for a higher price. Local authorities are ordered to impose additional measures on limitation of services and goods imports. For instance, authorities in Viciebsk have informed about their decision in their letter“On measures on minimization of the negative impact of world’s financial crisis on socio-economic development of the Viciebsk region” and on the necessity to comply with city’s forecasting indicators. In some regions the importers are administratively obliged to export goods in the amount of at least 25 per cent of their import turnover. Authorities try to link the financial crisis with their attempts to preserve foreign currency in the country as well as to sell the contents of Belarusian enterprises’ storehouses. It concerns mostly bicycles, soap, TV sets, and watches which have been selling poorly both in Belarusian and foreign markets. However, during the present crisis foreign markets could hardly increase their capacities for Belarusian products. On November, 25 2008 Alaksandar Łukašenka ordered to save country’s currency reserves and to produce all goods which could be manufactured locally in Belarus. The Ministry of Trade assures that imports that are not produced in Belarus (seafood, coffee, tea) will be fully credited. Authorities intend to enforce control at the consumer market in order to preserve a fail-safe system of supplying products. On the other hand, Belarusian manufacturers and local trade offices are obliged to supply stores and warehouses with the full variety of goods produced in Belarus. Belarusian banks are asked to credit these procurement activities in 2009. So, slogan “Buy Belarusian!” is now being imposed by country’s authorities in full swing. Source: Web site NAVINY, tut.by. This article appeared in Belarusian Review, Vol. 20, No. 4 --------------------------------------------- Copyright 2008 Belarusian Review All rights reserved. belarusianreview@hotmailcom
|
|||||||||
| Rubriques |
Belarusian Culture
Belarusians Abroad
Contents
Economy
Editorial
Features
Chronicle of Events
Legacy of Chernobyl
Letters
Media Watch
News Briefs
- Culture & Society
- Freedom of Religion
- Independent Media
- Belarus & the World
- Human Rights
- Politics - Opposition
- Politics - Regime
Thoughts and Observations
| New Articles |
| Wrong Carrot, Wrong Stick (23.01.2011) |
| No Business as Usual (23.01.2011) |
| Declaration by the Coordinating Committee of Belarusians of Canada (23.01.2011) |
| Belarus: That’s enough democracy (23.01.2011) |
| StatementBy the Office for a Democratic Belarus (Brussels) And the Belarusian Institute for Strategic Studies (23.01.2011) |
| Statement By the Rada of The Belarusian Democratic Republic in Exile 28th December 2010 (23.01.2011) |
| A backfire in Belarus (23.01.2011) |
| STATEMENT (23.01.2011) |
| A Nasty Surprise in Belarus (23.01.2011) |
| Demonstration in London (23.01.2011) |
| In Belarus, a Slide Toward Eastern Aggression (23.01.2011) |
| The Center for Belarusian Studies (23.01.2011) |
| Blood and Special Operations in Belarus Politics (23.01.2011) |
| Opinion - The EU Has no Choice But to Continue Dialogue With Belarus (23.01.2011) |
| Belarus Police Arrest Opposition Leaders (23.01.2011) |
| Readers' Favorites |
| Belarusian Weapons Exports:A Possible Source of Laundered Funds? (15578) |
| The Exchange Rate Policy for Belarus (15446) |
| Kitabs, the Unique Phenomenon of the Belarusian Language in "Encyclopedia of the Belarusian language" (15434) |
| Belarusica at the AAASS Convention (14433) |
| Vaclav Havel - in Defense of Jakub Kolas Humanities Lyceum (14378) |
| Putin Doctrine: Immediate Threat to Belarus (13977) |
| Belarusian Currency: Problems and Perspectives (13843) |
| Is Lukashenka Winning Back Hearts and Minds? (13494) |
| DZIADY and Kurapaty Unite the Opposition (13143) |
| Belarus Represented in the World Book Fair (13139) |
| Minsk Wants Compensation from Moscow for Abandoning National Currency (13132) |
| Opposition Forms New Pro-European Alliance (12978) |
| The Sad State of Agriculture (12592) |
| EU Aid Misuse Fears (12114) |
| The Third Wave, or the regimes current tactics in dealing with independent NGOs (11701) |