Chairman of the National Bank’s board Raman Halouchanka said he had received clear instructions from Alyaksandr Lukashenka on tasks facing the banking system. However, the head of the regulator declined to disclose their content.
“We began with my report on the situation on the currency market, the financial market, our external economic track, and the state of our reserves. In principle, this was a kind of report after a year of work at the head of the National Bank. And, of course, the topics were in line with the subject of the meeting of the head of state with the Council of Ministers’ apparatus. Certain messages were also voiced there regarding cooperation between the National Bank, the government and other authorities in solving the tasks facing the country.
Naturally, the conversation went beyond the issues outlined in the report program. Among other things, we discussed our new projects and new directions of foreign economic activity. Given the rapidly changing situation in the world, we need to be more active in entering external markets, strengthening our positions there and implementing projects of international cooperation.
The National Bank and the banking system have the relevant competencies to support such projects. Therefore certain tasks were set so that the banking system focuses more actively on some areas. I will not name them for obvious reasons, but absolutely clear instructions from the head of state have been received,” Halouchanka said after the meeting.
According to the National Bank chairman, recent events in the Middle East have not affected the Belarusian banking system.
“If you mean the events of the last few days, they have not affected us in any way so far. Specifically, the events of the last few days have not had an impact on us. But, of course, turbulence on global markets has never benefited development and progress. I can say that with full authority,” he said.
Halouchanka added that Belarus’s financial system is in good condition.
“The financial system of Belarus feels quite good. We have accumulated solid reserves, and the banking system has sufficient assets. Therefore we are ready to provide financial support for exporters in even greater volumes than we do now,” he said.
According to him, this concerns not only direct export support but also promising projects such as creating assembly production abroad, transferring production, and developing logistics infrastructure to promote Belarusian goods. He noted that Lukashenka regularly raises this issue in the context of work in Africa.
“No one is ready to buy finished products — everyone wants a certain degree of localization. But placing all financial costs on the foreign partner is an overly optimistic approach. And if our exporters see that a project will generate profit over a certain period of time, financial resources for this can be provided,” he said.
Halouchanka also said that Belarus is ready to offer investors sites for the placement of data centers, including for artificial intelligence.
