Economist: Belarusians have no protest limit

Euroradio: Information about Belarusians going abroad (including Russia) to work has appeared. Euroradio has interviewed Andrei Suzdaltsau, an expert, who predicts that about a million Belarusians will leave the country within the next two months. How real is the forecast?


Zaika: “I think that the tendency of losing qualified specialists will persist. On the whole, the increase of employment-based immigration in the created Customs Union is an advantage of the Customs Union. Various calculations indicated that about 600 thousand Belarusians worked abroad a year ago and even two or three years ago. However, I do not think that the forecast stating that everyone will leave within the next two months is serious”.


Euroradio: How can the economic situation affect the country?


Zaika: “This is a normal prospect for the country. The same process can be observed in Lithuania that is losing man power – young people are leaving for England and the European Union. We do not have the EU but we have Moscow and Saint Petersburg. We will have to reckon with it”.


Euroradio: How do you think, are autumn protests real?


Zaika: “The most difficult period is over, people are licking their wounds and they will be happy about every cucumber and every extra rouble added to their wages. Nobody will protest with pitchforks and rakes. People have adapted to the new rouble exchange rate in the economic sense. People have switched to self-sufficiency in their summer houses. Belarusians are characterized by a high level of adaptation. International organizations and the World Bank conducted a survey trying to denote the limit of income that would result in protests. We have not found this minimal limit”.
 

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