Opinions & Interviews

Opinion: Belarusian business is against coronavirus lockdown

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MINSK, 30 March (BelTA) – The Belarusian business is against introducing a lockdown over the coronavirus, member of the Minsk City Council of Deputies, businessman Pavel Bocharnikov told BelTA.

The coronavirus pandemic has put a lot of countries, including Belarus, to the choice between national isolation and global solidarity. “The Belarusian president has made a choice in favor of solidarity, rationality, and unity of the nation. I do not want isolation and total control. This means we should not panic. Instead, we should simply follow the path to success, as China did. It came out of this situation even stronger,” Pavel Bocharnikov said.

There are concerns about the state of the economy in countries across the globe that introduced a quarantine and closed borders in view of the coronavirus situation. Belarus has rejected draconian measures.

Pavel Bocharnikov has been doing business for 25. “I know how difficult it is to take responsibility for decisions that differ from the standard ones. They are not always popular and do not find favor with everyone. However, success in achieving the goals depends on efficient execution of the decisions,” he stressed.

Pavel Bocharnikov noted that as a businessman he understands the importance of the government’s attention to businesses. As a member of the Council of Deputies, he realizes that the government cannot lose tax revenues as they enable it to fulfill its social commitments. Pavel Bocharnikov published his proposals about ways to help the business without additional direct expenses on his Facebook account and called on all stakeholders to discuss them and share their own ideas. One of his proposals is granting a delay in tax payments in Q1 and Q2 without late payment penalties. He believes that this decision will help reduce the risk of salary delays. Moreover, Pavel Bocharnikov believes that all unscheduled inspections should be prohibited, all companies should be allowed to sell overdue receivables at a discount, without regarding it as factoring. This will help get money in exchange for current assets instead of applying for a bank loan.

Belarus is working on a set of measures to support businesses. Pavel Bocharnikov urged the government to speed up the decision-making process. It will enable businesses to avoid huge losses in this challenging situation and make the country stronger in the long run.

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