MINSK, 25 February (BelTA) – During his visit to the Minsk Center of Surgery, Transplantology and Hematology on 25 February, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko gave his take on prices and inflation in Belarus, BelTA has learned.
“Prices and pricing pose the biggest challenges and this is not because we cannot keep prices in check. Frankly speaking, we have a dictatorship in this regard: just give an order and prices will freeze tomorrow,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
At the same time, the president noted that external inflation pushes prices in the country up. “Inflation here is mostly driven by external factors, because money has depreciated overseas, manufacturing has not yet fully recovered there. Prices for oil, metals, etc. keep growing, prices went up by two to three times. And how am I supposed to keep prices, let's say, for a tractor unchanged? Price caps will destroy the tractor producer. Indeed, if prices are low while the prime cost keeps growing and outstrips the product price, the production will stop. Therefore, this is a very delicate topic. I am fully aware that it affects people, but we don't live in an isolated world. And you know, even America that seems to be self-sufficient, has almost the same inflation rate as we do,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
“We show real inflation. Yes, it is hard to have more than 9% per year. Yet, this is not something we cannot handle. In this situation we just need to stand out,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
The president added: “We curb price growth and keep prices in check where needed. For example, prices for domestic foodstuffs are understandable to us as we can make certain calculations. At the same time, we have to import foodstuffs at world prices, hence this inflation.”
