"Freezing Prices in Belarus Leads to Shortages, Coupons, and a Black Market"

The authorities have not mastered the basic educational program on economics.

Yesterday, Prime Minister of Belarus Halouchanka boasted of what, in fact, he should be ashamed of in the current circumstances. According to him, last year the government allocated 2 billion rubles to support enterprises. And he himself admitted that "in conditions of a budget deficit, the fulfillment of obligations on the state debt, this is unprecedented support." But the prime minister still modestly kept silent about the money that banks shared with factories in the name of ensuring social justice, writes the Letters to the Daughter Telegram channel.

Well, and, of course, the incentive policy has led to a natural result. At the end of the year, the debts of enterprises broke records and rose to 158 billion rubles, while the GDP volume of 157 billion was planned for this year. The government, however, has already come up with a way to solve this problem. And we know this method. We saw it in January when they withdrew $ 600 million from banks to help BMZ and the government debt a little bit. To take away and share in accordance with the principles of "social justice."

And no "social justice" is possible, you must admit, without "fair prices." So from now on (prices for 62 goods and 50 medicines) will be exclusively "fair." For example, I was especially pleased with the item about matches in this list. Well, you know, in 2021, this is the main strategic commodity. Probably, Prime Minister Halouchanka remembered that there was no inflation in the USSR because matches cost a penny all the time and decided to apply this universal recipe for monetary regulation in Belarusian practice. Well, in fact - what else is inflation if you can always buy matches at the same price.

I will not conduct an educational program now about the fact that freezing prices leads to shortages, coupons, and the black market. I know it, you know it, everyone knows it. It is only the Belarusian government that forgets and is happily surprised every time. The last time the authorities tried to introduce “fair” prices was a year ago, but then the government was completely different and quickly changed its mind.

A year ago, in general, many things were different. Inflation was below 5%, while the level of confidence in the government was, on the contrary, above 3%. And in the current circumstances, it may happen that we will feel the first consequences of fair prices before they have time to introduce coupons. Because a year ago, one could hope that all regulations would end with one list. And now we have a government that is not very interested in economic theories but is interested in social justice. And this is understood not only by you and me, but also by the people on whom prices depend (I mean not the Ministry of Trade, but sellers and manufacturers). So if sellers and manufacturers decide that the current list was just a test of the pen, then the first consequence of the freezing of prices for socially important goods could be an increase in prices for everything else. For preventive purposes, as they say. Before they freeze it too.