The National Bank of Belarus will be able to use the features of the digital national currency to regulate imports. This follows from statements by First Deputy Chairman of the National Bank Aliaksandr Yahorau in the House of Representatives, which today adopted in the first reading a draft law on the digital Belarusian ruble.
Yahorau was asked what advantages individuals could gain from the introduction of the digital ruble.
“At this stage, the most important thing for us is to test this technology on legal entities, because we see more benefits for the economy in terms of using this instrument. From the perspective of individuals, we see several advantages. First, it will be a system that is an alternative to existing systems, including international payment systems, for carrying out payment transactions. For example, it may be possible to introduce a QR code system using the digital Belarusian ruble. Such a system operates in the People’s Republic of China. It was created as an alternative to well-known platforms such as WeChat and Alipay, including for the purpose of exercising greater control over citizens’ funds and how they spend their money,” he said.
According to him, the digital ruble can also be used in lending for the purchase of Belarusian goods.
“It is very important to identify which goods are domestic and which are not. Within the framework of smart contracts, we expect to be able to set rules that ensure that when a client spends borrowed funds, they can only be used to purchase goods from specific producers that we know for certain are Belarusian. On the one hand, this may not appear to provide direct benefits to individuals, as it is more of a nationwide task. On the other hand, since loans for domestically produced goods are cheaper, it becomes more advantageous for citizens to purchase Belarusian goods, and we will be able to provide this opportunity and guarantee that these funds, for example, will not be spent on imported goods or used in fraudulent schemes,” he added.
Yahorau also explained that a similar mechanism could be embedded in smart contracts when allocating state funds for dairy farms: payments in digital currency would be prohibited for imported goods within specific projects supported through the Development Bank.
