BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS
DATE:
21/02/2008
President Says Gazprom To Double Gas Price For Belarus
Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has told Russian media that the Russian gas monopoly Gazprom is threatening to double its gas price for Belarus this year, Belapan reported on February 20. Lukashenka said that Belarus's economy experienced difficulty in 2007 after Gazprom raised its price and the Russian government imposed a duty on crude oil exported to Belarus. "We had to withdraw some $3 billon in real money from the economy and pay," Lukashenka said. "Natural gas became twice as expensive.... Frankly speaking, I was astonished that we managed to find a way out of that situation. But now they are threatening to double the gas price for Belarus." Lukashenka did not say who made that threat or when. Belarus currently pays $119.5 per 1,000 cubic meters of Russian gas. Russian Ambassador to Belarus Aleksandr Surikov said earlier this month that the gas price for Belarus will rise by no more than 10 percent in 2008, starting on April 1. RFE/RL's Belarus Service on February 21 quoted Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov as saying that the company does not know anything about the alleged twofold increase mentioned by Lukashenka. AM
Source:
http://www.rferl.org/newsline/2008/02/3-cee/cee-210208.asp
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