Business news

MINSK, 8 September (BelTA) – Thanks to the transition to the floating exchange rate of the Belarusian ruble people understood that the government does not play games with them, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said as he met with Chairman of the Board of the National Bank Pavel Kallaur on 8 September, BelTA has learned.

In January-August Belarusians sold $362 million more than they bought. As for legal entities, the demand for foreign currency was higher than its supply only in August because of the need to repay foreign currency loans.

“Thanks to the fact that we have moved to the floating exchange rate and stopped to hold the exchange rate fixed against other currencies, we showed to the people that we are not going to play games with them. And this is right, we must adhere to this policy,” Alexander Lukashenko said. The President noted: “People can buy everything for Belarusian rubles in Belarus.”

The head of state believes that the National Bank and the government should not pay attention to the criticism of their manual mode of economic management. “You can choose any mode you like to produce results. There is no time to complain,” the President said. “Probably, we will face even more difficult times, and let’s hope that we will cope with them like we are doing today. The situation in the world does not depend on us. We should adjust to it.”

The situation in all segments of the Belarusian economy, including in the foreign currency sector, is rather calm, the monetary policy is stable and predictable, the President said. “This is very good. We should keep this trend,” he stressed.