MINSK, 24 August (BelTA) – The Belarusian market of insurance services should grow faster. Chairman of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus Mikhail Myasnikovich made the statement during the expanded participation session of the Presidium of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly on 24 August, BelTA has learned. The session participants discussed the role and tasks of the upper chamber of the Belarusian parliament in implementing the priorities outlined by the main provisions of the 2016-2020 national social and economic development program.
Mikhail Myasnikovich remarked: “The stock market and the insurance services market in Belarus operate rather ineffectively. The fact that the gross added value of insurance services represents only 0.3% of the GDP already indicates that this sector needs to grow faster.”
According to the head of the upper chamber of the Belarusian parliament, a number of draft presidential decrees to develop the financial market will be worked out and adopted mainly in 2016-2017. The presidential decrees are meant to regulate the emission of securities on market principles and to improve the operation of the insurance services market, including by enabling more favorable terms for pension savings on the part of insurance companies.
The main provisions of the 2016-2020 social and economic development program contain measures designed to emancipate business initiative, including the protection and sanctity of private property. “Updating ownership relations is the key because it is necessary to give answers to questions concerning privatization, conversion of state-owned unitary enterprises into joint-stock companies and their privatization, the establishment of specialized agencies with that in mind and so on,” said Mikhail Myasnikovich.
Amendments will have to be introduced to the Tax Code, the Civil Code, the Criminal Code, the Administrative Violations Code, the laws on counteracting monopolistic activities and on encouraging completion, laws on foreign currency turnover, on commercial companies, on privatizing state property and converting state unitary enterprises into public joint-stock companies.
“We will also have to take care of matters concerning monetary management in view of the declared transition to market-based economic administration principles, reduction and further curtailing of directive-based preferential-rate loans, elimination of emission-based loans,” added the Chairman of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus.
The market of R&D products will be developed by simplifying the terms of commercializing the results of R&D projects and scientific research products, which are owned by the state.
Plans have been made to introduce a number of economic incentives. In particular, new enterprises in rural areas and cities (except for Minsk and the oblast capitals) may be exempted from profit tax and real estate tax for two years. Plans have been made to simplify the procedure and really hand over unused real estate objects for free for the sake of establishing manufacturing enterprises and creating jobs. It will be necessary to adopt new laws on insolvency and bankruptcy, on power engineering, on manufacturing and turnover of organic products.
According to the interagency working group on developing the draft main provisions of the social and economic development program, it will be necessary to pass about 170 regulatory acts. Most of them will have to be adopted in 2016-2017, stressed the Chairman of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus.
Mikhail Myasnikovich called for efforts to step up parliamentary oversight over failures to observe legislation in practice. “It is necessary to find gaps in regulatory environment, to determine the reasons and conditions that prevent the proper execution of regulatory documents. The relevant mechanisms are available. The Council of the Republic can oversee the fulfillment of legislation upon its own initiative,” concluded the official.
