BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

08/02/2007

Belarusian economy avoids criminalization - president

Involving own resources to modernize the economy was among the vehicles behind the economic growth in Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko said in an interview with Reuters.

According to the president, while conducting reforms, Belarus was careful enough "not to plunge into the maelstrom of privatization" heedless of the consequences and in that way saved the economy from criminalization.

"While conducting the reforms, we, unlike Russia for example, privatized only certain companies. The state did not allow large-scale privatization of state-owned property. The state refused from the ownership and management of only those companies which it could not handle on its won.

At the same time we laid down about a dozen and a half conditions for future investors. The main of them was that a company to be privatized should preserve the personnel and the social benefits and guarantees which existed there before", the president said. He also stressed that today privately-owned companies generate a prevailing share of GDP - more than a half.

"The main thing is that we have been guided by current trends. Developing the industry, we have relied on our potential and being guided the needs of people. We have started modernizing the economy involving internal resources, our own means. Therefore today we practically have no debts to the west," the head of state said.

Source: law.by

Source:

http://www.freshplaza.com/2007/0208/ec_by_economy.html