Ex-Chairman Of National Bank About "Price Freeze": Products Will Go To Black Market Or Abroad

The populist decision will soon have to be cancelled.

Former chairman of the National Bank Stanislau Bahdankevich has said in comments to udf.by that administrative measures wouldn't be able to stop the price rise in the long run.

"It can be done for a short period, a month or two. But if it is longer, it will lead to problems in trade, a shortage of certain goods. The products will go to the black market or abroad," - Bahdankevich said.

People write in the networks about the government's decision: it is very likely that they will raise prices of the mentioned goods retroactively, and they will raise the prices of the rest goods just in case. Bahdankevich is not surprised.

"This is a normal reaction of sensible entrepreneurs. My son is building a house in the countryside and was looking for where to buy windows. He compared prices from two companies: the first company had a 50% discount, the other one - no discount. But the prices were the same. People are not stupid, they are looking for ways to preserve the profitability of their business. The trade, the pharmacies will also look for these ways, otherwise they will have to close down and go bankrupt," - the former head of the National Bank said.

In his opinion, the government's decision is populist.

"In the Soviet Union, of course, the practice of administrative regulation of prices and empty shelves in stores lasted for decades. But in today's world, this decision will have to be cancelled soon. I think this is a populist move aimed at a temporary solution to the problem. This is the government's reaction to Lukashenka's speech, where he criticized private business," - Bahdankevich believes.