'Robbed' Regime
- 11.02.2025, 16:39
Why the currency ‘flow’ out of the country?
The rights of investors from "unfriendly countries" to the money they earned in Belarus may soon be even more limited. Aliaksandr Lukashenka promised to "deal" with those who withdraw currency abroad. The authorities should really worry about the outflow of currency, experts agree, but foreign investors are not to blame for this, the website of the Belsat TV channel writes.
Lukashenka was "robbed"
The prosecutor's office in Belarus is already checking companies that have founders or owners from "unfriendly countries". This happened after Aliaksandr Lukashenka learned from Prosecutor General Andrei Shved that such businesses allegedly withdrew from the country not $15 million, as Lukashenko had previously reported, but "hundreds of millions".
"Dividends are withdrawn. Did they personally earn this money? Minor earnings were paid to our people, they themselves fled abroad and withdrew more money. Is this okay? In the near future, we will deal with the government, how they implemented the decisions that I made," Lukashenka said.
He did not specify for what period the money was withdrawn. Probably, we are talking about the time from April 23, 2024, when the government decree No.299 "On the application of a special restrictive measure" appeared. It prohibited companies with founders or owners from "unfriendly countries" to withdraw dividends abroad without fulfilling a number of conditions and permission of regional or Minsk city executive committees. It is with this decision that the inspections of the prosecutor's office are related
Dzmitry Kruk, Senior Researcher at BEROC, Director of the Biseb School of Economics and Business, told Zerkalo that he does not see from the statistics that investors massively withdraw money from Belarus. He also believes that Lukashenka's concern is caused by the deficit of foreign trade.
"When in 2022 and most of 2023 foreign exchange earnings in Belarus were unexpectedly high, this made it possible to turn a blind eye to secondary problems. And if this huge inflow of currency does not exist, "problems" such as withdrawing funds abroad begin to attract attention," said Dzmitry Kruk.
How do withdrawal restrictions work?
Restrictions apply to investors from Australia, the EU, Canada, Liechtenstein, Norway, New Zealand, Albania, Iceland, North Macedonia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Montenegro, and Switzerland.
Investors need to ask permission from the executive committees if all foreign representatives of the company receive more dividends for the year than 80,000 basic units (3.36 million BYN).
To get a permit, you need to fulfill a number of conditions. The company should not have losses for the previous year and for the reporting period of the year in which the withdrawal request is submitted. Also, there should be no arrears on loans, payment of taxes and deductions to the Social Insurance Fund. Employees must be at least 70% of the level of the previous year. The total amount of dividends paid and those declared for payment for the year should be no more than 50% of the average volume of foreign direct investment on a net basis for the 5 years preceding the year in which they are paid.
The Executive Committee may consider the application for 30 days. If it is approved, the investor must inform the executive committee about the amount within 10 days from the payment of dividends.
The decree will be in force until the end of 2025.