ST PETERSBURG, 30 March (BelTA) – Prime Minister of Belarus Roman Golovchenko talked to reporters on 30 March and mentioned how the government intends to support the economy among other things, BelTA has learned.
Roman Golovchenko said: “The plan to support the economy primarily relies on reducing the regulatory pressure on businesses. We don’t differentiate between private businesses and state-run enterprises in this regard. We have to simplify all the procedures as much as possible and reduce the fees commercial entities pay for some procedures. We’ve recently signed a resolution on cancelling an entire range of administrative procedures, reducing the number of documents, decreasing payments, and even waiving payments for some things. Converting all of it into the digital format is the key. The work is proceeding very intensively now.”
In his words, Belarusian enterprises will have access to credit resources, which interest rates will be subsidized by the state. “We didn’t forget about small and medium enterprises either. Credit resources will be channeled via the Development Bank of the Republic of Belarus to SMEs, which intend or are already taking care of import substitution through manufacturing,” the prime minister noted. A list of imports in need of substitution has been compiled. “If import-substituting companies need money to buy additional equipment, start operations at a new site, then we are ready to allocate funds via the Development Bank under subsidized interest rates (below the refinancing rate),” he stressed.
Apart from that, industry-specific support measures are being polished. “We are also working on a draft of a more global document, which we intend to suggest to the head of state. It contains a sufficient number of measures designed to support businesses and citizens. These measures have something in common with Russian ones,” he added.