Medvedev blamed Lukashenka: reforms have to be made in time

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev blamed Belarusian authorities for the absence of economic reforms, which led to a sharp drop in living standards. He said this on 1 November, at the meeting of the State Council Presidium in Khabarovsk.

"If to compare it with what we had ten years ago, it's quite different figures. And let's see what happens to our neighbors, our close neighbors, friends - Belarusians: they have 100% inflation. Why? Because reforms have to be made in time", RIA Novosti quotes Russian President.

As UDF.BY reported earlier, President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenka held the meeting on economic issues, where he made ​​clear to the government, that he wasn't prepared for serious economic reforms. Moreover, he blamed Prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich, that his team was carried away by market reforms.

"If you want to put everything on a market basis, then such a policy is unacceptable to us", Lukashenko stated and added: "If you do not agree with what I say, let's put all of you on a footing of the greater part of the population, which is far from being rich. You try to live in such conditions. Then you'll probably understand what pure market is and how we must act in this situation. This stray thought is increasingly coming to my mind".

The former head of the National Bank of Belarus Stanislav Bagdankevich in an interview to UDF.BY expressed the opinion, that such statements by the president are caused by the fact, that he still doesn't believe the economic crisis is deepening in Belarus.

"Lukashenka still doesn't admit the crisis, says we have "temporary difficulties", which we will forget in the end of the year. The government has marketeers, Deputy Prime Minister Rumas for example, who recognized the crisis, and basing on it they created the development plan and budget for 2012".

"They proposed to prioritize the quality indicators, rather than growth of GDP and export. There was a proposal to eliminate imbalances in the economy. They talked about the need to reduce the growth of money income of the population by 0.5%".

"This program is based on recognition of the deep internal crisis without some obvious external causes. This program is unacceptable for Lukashenko. I think the president understands in his heart, that the crisis is caused by the previous government policy and its own actions, and Myasnikovich had nothing to do with it. But to predict the actions of Lukashenko is impossible", the expert thinks.