Belarusian govt worried about withdraw of foreign capital to unfriendly countries

MINSK. Jan 18 (Interfax) - President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko demanded that officials take immediate measures to prevent the withdrawal of foreign capital to unfriendly countries.

At a meeting with Lukashenko on Thursday, representatives of state control reported on the factual outflow of funds to unfriendly countries and the deliberate withdrawal of profits to jurisdictions outside Belarus, BelTA reported

"Measures to counter the withdrawal of capital from Belarus must be implemented with lightning speed. (...) We offer foreigners some of the best conditions: preferences, benefits, infrastructure, naturally, competencies. Come and work. However, not for the sake of profit at the expense of our people. If someone tries to do it, there are mechanisms for countering it and for admonishing them," Lukashenko said.

He demanded a report from the government on the reasons for the withdrawal of foreign capital and emphasized that "in practice, protective measures should be implemented at lightning speed without wasting time to sort it out."

It was also reported that the government of Belarus proposed to soften the previously introduced ban on the sale of property in the country by foreign investors from unfriendly countries. "The government proposes to show more flexibility in matters of the sale of property by foreigners from unfriendly countries and to provide for cases when this is possible. It is never impossible. But the government can find it impossible, but then at some point it is possible," Lukashenko said.

"In order to protect our economy from the lawlessness of the West in the face of growing sanctions pressure, we have adopted a number of systemic documents, and today not a single shareholder or owner with the citizenship of an unfriendly country has the right, without special permission from the government and a contribution to the budget, to sell property which would remove fixed assets from the economy," Lukashenko said.