News & Events in Belarus

“We have come to an understanding on our banking issues, the issues about which I had been informed in detail by Vasily Matyushevsky (Belarus’ First Vice Premier. – BelTA’s note) and which we had been discussing in the government,” the head of state said.

“But I would like to say the main thing: if, when working in Belarus, German Oskarovich [Gref] treats our partners, clients cooperating with the bank in the same way he treats Russians in Russia, we will never have problems,” Alexander Lukashenko stressed. He is well aware of German Gref’s position in the Russian business area and heard many good things about it.

German Gref, in turn, thanked the President, the government, and the National Bank of Belarus for the constructive support and solutions in the difficult situations emerging in 2015 and 2016. “This year will be a complicated one too. But it will be much better than 2016. We hope to start normal work here in 2018. There will be an substantial revival of our crediting programs and the asset portfolio,” he said.

German Gref also stressed that all conditions set for the purchase of the Belarusian bank (OAO BPS-Sberbank is included in Sberbank Group) are fulfilled. “We have outstripped all five conditions by at least 1.5 times. At present Sberbank is the biggest investor in the Belarusian economy. This is also the result of our good cooperation and trust in you personally and in the republic,” the chairman of the board of Sberbank added.