BORISOV DISTRICT, 19 January (BelTA) – Speaking with the BelGee staff, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko answered the question about the possibility of extending preferential loans for purchasing Belarus-made cars, BelTA has learned.
The head of state noted that the car purchasing aid program was adopted to stimulate production. The program will be running this year, too. Yet, speaking about a more distant future, the president noted that such preferential lending will have to be discontinued, because other important industries also need funding. “I am in favor of gradually curtailing it. Because you or those who buy these cars take someone else’s money from the budget. Well, do we really have nowhere else to spend budget money? Are our teachers, doctors, and pensioners rich people? I agreed on this program in order to put this enterprise on a solid footing and promote demand,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
The economy is still able to handle this additional burden. “We are not canceling it [the lending program] yet. We will see how you will work, we will count the money. And if the situation remains more or less tolerable, we will extend this program. But it feels wrong in the current situation, when there are waiting lists to buy these cars. Such a thing is not done anywhere else in the world. My goal was to give money (subsidies in fact) and stimulate demand. We achieved this goal - the demand is enormous. We need to cancel these support mechanisms. However, we will not do it now. Indeed, people can save a lot using this program but this is not huge money in fact. So far our economy can handle it,” said Aleksandr Lukashenko.
