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Sergei Grits (AP / “Scanpix”?) Nuotr.
Following unprecedented protests against authoritarian President Aliaksandr Lukashenko in Belarus for weeks, the country’s currency is rapidly losing value and companies in the vital information technology sector threaten to relocate.
Belarusians have been inundated with bank branches and foreign exchange offices, desperately trying to buy foreign exchange to save at least some of their savings.
“Banks no longer have foreign currency. Employees tell them to wait in case a customer brings an exchange,” said a customer at a branch of Belarusbank, the country’s largest bank, who did not want to reveal his name.
The Belarusian ruble has depreciated by a record more than 10% against the euro and the US dollar over the past month, amid uncertainty over mounting political opposition and fears of an economic crisis.
Over the past year, the Belarusian ruble depreciated 27% against the dollar and 33% against the euro.
“Nonsense”
In recent days, a series of Telegram channels, monitored by many opposition supporters, have asked people to buy foreign currency to destabilize the ruble and, at the same time, the Lukashenko regime.
The population was also urged to boycott large state-owned companies, which play a vital role in the Soviet-model economy of Belarus, and to buy the products of private companies.
The president, re-elected in the controversial elections on August 9, condemned on Thursday the “scoundrels” “who call for the destabilization of the financial market.”
“We will not allow the national currency to collapse,” he promised during a meeting with workers from a state-owned company. Mr. Lukashenko’s words were quoted by his press service.
Independent analyst Aliaksandr Vasilyev acknowledged that some people are selling rubles as a “sign of protest,” but said the total amount of such deals would not be enough to “significantly affect the exchange rate.”
Dissatisfaction also spread to a strong Belarusian IT sector.
Businesses are outraged that the government, in an attempt to quell the protests, has repeatedly shut down or restricted access to the Internet, and has raided the offices of information technology giants believed to play a role in inciting. to the protest movement.
More than 2,000 IT workers have signed an open letter calling for new elections and an end to political violence and online competition, as well as warnings that companies may decide to relocate to other countries.
Closed offices
Armed law enforcement officers searched the office of Russian internet giant Yandex in Minsk in mid-August.
The company responded with the decision to close its office in the capital after about 300 of its employees switched to telecommuting.
Yandex added that some employees left Minsk, but did not confirm reports that it was starting to relocate its employees from Belarus.
Viber, the company that runs the correspondence app, wrote on Twitter after closing its Minsk office earlier this month due to “safety concerns for our employees” and “internet problems.”
The office reopened last week.
The political crisis, triggered by the disputed re-election of Mr. Lukashenko and allegations of vote falsification, has also severely affected economic sectors that rely heavily on government subsidies.
Additionally, Russia has previously cut significant concessions to Belarus in the past, relying heavily on energy supplies from its eastern neighbor.
“Strikes in key sectors may further reduce prospects for growth, which have already been weakened by disruptions to oil supplies and [koronaviruso] pandemics, ”Fitch analysts said.
They forecast that Belarus’ gross domestic product will decline by five percent in 2020.
Some workers were reportedly on strike at the Minsk plant for tractors, heavy machinery and potash fertilizer plants.
However, the strikes have come to an end in recent days, with the corporate leadership threatening to fire workers and arresting some of the strikers’ leaders with law enforcement.
But Fitch said last week that strikes at the mines of Belaruskalij, the world’s largest producer of potash fertilizers, could lead to a decline in Belarusian exports.
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