Alexander Yegorov: Belarus reaches positive balance of trade in goods

Belarus reached the trade surplus in goods. This was stated by the Chairman of the Development Bank Alexander Yegorov. The figures show that Belarus' exports are growing.

Alexander Yegorov, Chairman of the Development Bank of Belarus: 

“If we talk about the Russian Federation, we reached $2 billion for the first time in a month. This is for June. We have almost reached a positive balance of trade in goods.  We had a surplus in goods and services. And we achieved it due to two factors: first,  the prices are rising; second, the volume of goods that are not related to commodities, for example, potash fertilizers and oil products, is growing. Products with high added value are growing; this naturally affects the economy and financial enterprises.” 

The activity of clients was facilitated by changes in the Presidential Decree No. 534 "On promotion of exports of goods (works, services)". "First of all, this is the provision of pre-export loans - loans with which you can buy raw materials, materials, manufacture products and send them for export," Alexander Yegorov commented. - Secondly, the collateral requirements were removed. Now, if we open a special account in the Development Bank, we can send the export revenue directly to this special account. In this case, no collateral is required. And most importantly, the minimum amount has been removed. There used to be the limit of $200 thousand, now there is no limit. If we talk about 2022, we can say that about Br350 million of approved loans was granted to about 45 customers. And there has been 1.1 billion of Belarusian rubles in loans issued within the framework of the decree No. 534 for seven months. This is about 30% more than last year.

According to Alexander Yegorov, it is one of the few effective financial instruments. First of all, it is very flexible, and you can quickly figure out which markets you have to supply your products to. "Secondly, when the price of products is rising, the delivery terms are increasing, if companies do not have turnover, they cannot produce, and the loan allows you to get this turnover, quickly produce, sell the expensive ones," summed up the expert.