Business news

MINSK, 22 September (BelTA) – Belarus and Russia will finalize the amount of compensation for the Belarusian economy in view of the tax maneuver in Russia’s oil industry, Belarusian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Lyashenko told reporters following the meeting hosted by Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko on 22 September, BelTA has learned.

“We are going to deal with this issue in Q4. We have already outlined the matters to be discussed; now we are working on the parameters to calculate the compensations,” Igor Lyashenko noted.

Russia admits that such compensations should be awarded. The size and mechanism of compensations will be discussed additionally, the vice premier noted. He recalled that as soon as the tax maneuver in the oil industry is over, Russia will offer internal compensations for its oil industry in the form of budgetary subsidies. There is no mechanism like that in Belarus. Ways to unify these approaches will be discussed during the talks.

Igor Lyashenko informed that the Belarusian oil refineries will continue to receive raw materials from Russia and will be able to operate at full capacity. “This is the main arrangement underpinning the EAEU agreements. Traditionally, these volumes are sufficient for the operation of our plants. There is even a possibility for us to get 10% more depending on our production volumes,” he said.

The deputy prime minister also spoke about industrial cooperation and equal conditions for economic entities of Belarus and Russia. One of such issues is the recycling fee. These issues are addressed at the level of vice premiers. “According to our agreements, by 1 October the industry ministries will present a detailed analysis of the operation conditions of our mechanical engineering plants. The most important thing is that we understand that our major mechanical engineering plants should operate in equal conditions,” he said. Today, there is no need to set up duplicate enterprises in the two countries. “Cooperation, exchange of supplies will only make the automakers in both countries stronger,” Igor Lyashenko stressed.