BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

20/08/2007

Belarusian President Upbeat On Economy's Strength

President Alyaksandr Lukashenka said on August 17 that the Belarusian economy and financial system will not be affected by the Russian gas-price hike that occurred in January, Interfax and Belapan reported. Lukashenka was visiting his native twin villages of Kopys and Aleksandryya on the River Dnyapro to inaugurate a newly built bridge. "Our financial system is 'unstable' only for home-bred opposition economists. Our economy will not collapse because of the gas-price increase," Lukashenka assured journalists. National Bank of Belarus Chairman Pyotr Prakapovich, who accompanied Lukashenka on the trip, noted that the recently announced decision to abandon pegging the Belarusian ruble to the Russian ruble is a mere technicality (see "RFE/RL Newsline," August 16, 2007). "It used to be that the Belarusian ruble was pegged to two currencies at once, that is, to the Russian ruble and to the U.S. dollar, but we've learned from experience that a peg to just one currency is more efficient. There's no politics here or bias against Russia or the Russian Central Bank," Prakapovich said. JM

Source:

http://www.rferl.org/newsline/2007/08/3-cee/cee-200807.asp

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