MINSK, 25 May (BelTA) – The stable operation of enterprises is the most important priority today. First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Nikolai Snopkov mentioned it during a joint session of the House of Representatives and the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus, BelTA has learned.
Nikolai Snopkov said: “The stable operation of enterprises is the most important priority today. We want people to still get their salaries. To accomplish that, it is necessary to preserve jobs, which means the enterprises have to keep working. Over Br2.2 billion in bank resources, which were earmarked for fighting COVID-19 in 2020-2021, will be used for that in addition to Br200 million earmarked for supporting import substitution and export efforts of small and medium private enterprises and Br300 million set aside for preferential loans for housing construction for large families on top of approved figures.”
Apart from that, a number of measures catering to real sector enterprises, which have been affected by the sanctions, have been taken. The deadline for writing off exchange rate differences has been extended till 31 December 2025. The base rent amount is kept at the limit, which was in effect in 2020-2021. The deadlines for paying off last year's dividends have been rescheduled for a number of organizations. Individual enterprises have been allowed to reschedule the payment of taxes, the repayment of budget loans and guarantees. Respites are granted for paying the rent. The period of validity of a number of permissions granted via 148 administrative procedures to commercial entities and permissions granted via 12 other documents has been prolonged till the end of the year. The Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has halved the time it needs to issue own product certificates. Apart from that, local measures to support the manufacturing sector, civil engineering, agriculture, transport, tourism, and IT industry are being implemented as part of the comprehensive plan of top-priority measures on supporting the economy.
A bill on licensing is nearly ready. It is designed to get rid of excessive requirements for licensees. The licensing process will become simple and transparent and the decision-making time will be reduced. “We want companies to minimize regulatory and transaction costs. It is necessary to phase out excessive administrative procedures. Nowadays efforts and assets of companies should be directed towards building new manufacturing chains and logistic chains, into looking for opportunities to expand business by exploiting the now vacant market niches. Including in the Russian Federation. It will allow accomplishing the key task – to preserve jobs and people's revenues. All these measures allow supporting real sector enterprises and their worker collectives, ensuring the fulfillment of routine commitments by the enterprises, and preserving jobs,” Nikolai Snopkov added.
