Business communities appealed to authorities with an open letter re 30% levy on purchasing currency

Leaders of business-community in Belarus appealed to the management of the country “due to aggravation of economic situation of transactors caused by external factors”.

The letter sent to the government, National Bank, President Administration, and other state bodies says that “due to the introduction of a 30% levy on purchasing foreign currency and increase from 30% to 50% of its required sale and introduction of moratorium on increase in retail prices the terms of economic activity for the vast majority of commercial organizations have changed”.

According to the state news agency BelTA, Aliaksander Shvets, a representative of the business community, Chairman of the Belarusian Confederation of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (BNPA), says that business is ready to work with the government to improve the economic situation in Belarus.
“Understanding and taking into account external factors caused primarily by the unstable development of the economies of our key partners — Russia and Ukraine — the business community is ready to cooperate with the government to fix the situation in the Belarusian economy,” he said, adding that “now everyone — the state, the population, and the private sector — will have to pay their share of the cost… It is life; it is determined by modern specifics of the development of economic processes.”

According to Uladzimir Kariagin, Chairman of the Minsk Capital Association of Entrepreneurs and Employers, among the proposals listed in the letter is the proposal not to apply the 30% levy on purchasing foreign currency to foreign currency purchased to pay for foreign currencies loans on contracts signed before 20 December 2014 and to foreign currency purchased to pay loan debts on inventory loans on contracts signed before 20 December, with merchandise received.

The Belarusian business community would like the situation recognized as force majeure and requests the government to allow commercial banks to revise the terms and deadlines for repaying foreign currency loans without using fines. The business community also suggests allowing exporters to reduce the mandatory sale of foreign currency by the amounts used to import raw materials to make end products. The document also suggests allowing economic operators to raise prices to a level sufficient to at least cover the own costs.