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Lukashenko: Belarus’ banking sector needs to be streamlined
MINSK, 4 April (BelTA) - Lukashenko gave instructions regarding streamlining the country’s banking sector as he approved the appointment of Sergei Stolyarchuk as Chairman of the Board of the Development Bank of the Republic of Belarus on 4 April, BelTA has learned.
The head of state was interested in the bank's activities and whether there was any duplication of functions with local authorities, ministries and departments in selecting projects for financing. Besides, there are a number of other banking institutions in the country.
“You [candidates for senior positions in the local government who attended the event] are all specialists. You are well aware of what needs to be built, what are most optimal solutions. I am sure that your bank is turning into a key sponsor of all major projects,” the president said. “The procedure of selecting projects envisages certain nuances and criteria, which are difficult to judge from the outside, but which the head of a particular enterprise knows about. It is the director of the enterprise who should make the responsible decision whether to take money from the bank for a particular project. “It is impossible to have something built at someone else’s expense. If there is a project, the director of the enterprise should either take a loan or implement it using his/her own money,” the head of state said. “These funds then will be counted properly and there will not be a situation in which managers get everything done for them.”
“I am not saying that we do not need this bank. Otherwise, we would not be appointing you. But we need to streamline the banks, we need to take a look at them. We lack specialists in other areas, for example in agriculture and so on. Perhaps we do not need so many banks in our small country which distract highly-qualified specialists from other important areas. Those are great specialists, financiers.”
“We have a huge number of professionals diverted from the economy to serve some bank. We need to streamline things here,” the head of state added.
In this regard, Aleksandr Lukashenko addressed First Deputy Head of Belarus President Administration Maksim Ryzhenkov and recalled that banking specialist Aleksandr Yegorov had recently been appointed Deputy Head of Belarus President Administration. A group of experienced highly qualified economists have also been tasked with working on the matter. “Let them gather, discuss, and make appropriate proposals,” the head of state said.
“We need to take a look at this sector. We need to examine the banking system now, despite the current hard times. We will be taking decisions in the near future. Or maybe we will make no decisions at all. We first need to look into the matter. There are too many parallels. Why do we need excessive competition in Belarus, where the financial system is generally stable and disciplined, where there are no extra resources,” the head of state said. “I believe that experts on the ground understand the situation better. It is not their [bankers’] function to persuade the local authorities to implement this or that project. There is the president’s decision: one district - one project,” the president said.
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