By Andrei Krivosheev: The President of Belarus held a meeting to discuss measures to promote financial rehabilitation of agricultural businesses in Belarus.
Last year, the President instructed the government to develop effective measures to promote agriculture. Insolvent organizations of the agro-industrial complex need a new mechanism for financial recovery without judicial procedures.
The President heard all the arguments from representatives of agriculture and finance, as well as inspectors, the court, the bodies of justice, and governors. After all, the authority in this matter will be delegated to the heads of district executive committees. Now this issue is regulated by Decree No. 253, but so far it only helped half of the farms. For example, 40 enterprises now have new owners or investors. Of the remaining 283, every four farms out of ten either completely restored the balance of payments, or on the way to recovery. 118 agricultural enterprises have no noticeable changes, and 41 farms are still facing debts even though their previous debt load had been written off. The aggregate debt is approaching 0.5 billion BYN. The situation is so serious that nearly 20 farms have already started the procedures of sanitation and bankruptcy.
The new draft document outlines the possibility for a creditor to choose a restructuring mechanism. The President was interested in the prospects for the development of those agricultural enterprises that are supported in the framework of the decisions already taken.
Following the discussion, Alexander Lukashenko supported the proposed draft decree. It is expected that after a little revision the document will be signed by the President. Also, the meeting focused on the situation in agriculture in general. For example the harvesting season has already started in some areas. If agrarians work on the harvest as responsibly as they did during the preparatory works, the total harvest yield can reach 8 million tons.
