Lukashenka says people should not rely on foreign currencies

Belarusians should not "run to forex offices to buy out dollars at crazy rates", Alexander Lukashenka said on January 9 when appointing the heads of local administrations, the press office of the president said. "It is yet to known what happens with the dollar and euro. If someone wants to invest in goods, it is correct. But it is totally silly to buy three, five or ten TV sets or fridges, hoping that this is a good investment, because commodity prices are falling. Money should be kep in banks", Lukashenka said. He also said that the devaluation of the Belarusian currency by 20 percent was caused by two reasons. "Firstly, Russia is our large trade partner, and our exporters began suffering huge losses because of the strong Belarusian rubel. That's why we had to make this step. The cost of the dollar rose an average of Br400. This is relatively little, but we have backed our producers. Production is now the most important thing. If we have production, we will have the rubel and everything. There is no production, there will be no rubel", Lukashenka noted. A demand from the International Monetary Fund was the second reason behind the devaluation. Lukashenka said that IMF "offered even a better loan than the one received from Russia".