The
Spaso-Preobrazenskaya Church in
the ancient Byelorussian city of Zaslavl was
desecrated on 19 October 1996.
Translations of new Constitution comleted
Deputy Foreing Minister Mikhil Khvostov announced at a briefing on
1 November that the Ministry had completed the translation of the Presidential
draft of the Constitution into foreing languages. The texts of the translation
will be forwarded for distribution to Belarus' diplomatic missions worldwde.
The Ministry has also carried out the translation of the alternative draft
of the Constitution, proposed for the referendum by the Parliament.
(Our Editorial Staff updated WWW Belarus server
with this translations in afficial versions at September
19)
SUBSIDISE BUDGETARY ORGANISATIONS
The Cabinet of Ministers of Belarus has instructed the Ministry of
Finance to issue new long-term govemment bonds woth 30 billion roubles.
The bonds will be handed over to budgetary organisations requiring financial
support, which will later use the bonds to cover their operating costs
or sell them in the secondary bonds market. According to the Head of the
National bank, Tamara Vinnikova, government bonds still remain a highly
profitable and liquid financial instrument.
TOLLS announced for PASSage on the M1
The tolls and admission rules have finaly been published for passage
on Brest-border with the Russian Federation Highway M1. Tolls will be collected
by the government enterprise Belavtostrada at special checkpoints on entering
the highway. The tolls have been set at $2 for passenger cars, $3 for a
truck with a trailer, $5 to 10 for an articulated lorry or bus. Exemptions
will be granted to vehicles registered in Belarus for the next two years
and vehicles transporting humanitarian aid.
Real estate dealers convene
The Fourth tnternational property fair was sponsored by the Executive
Secretariat of the CIS. The organising committee was composed of representatives
from various Ministries, the Presidential Office, Minsk Municipal Department
of State property and members of the Belarusian Guild of Realtors. The
organising committee was headed by the President of the Belarusian Guitd
of Realtors, Yuri Trifonov.
Of 132 participants in the fair, nearly one-third were female students
of the University of technotogy, who had sat manfully through the entire
event in the cold conference hall of the hotel Planeta.
The rest of the audience were representatives of the corporations Komkon,
MinskRemstroy and ADL, as well as of PriorBank and the joint venture Besser-Belarus
- 62 organisations altogether, as mentioned in the press release. Not a
single frepresentative from Belarus' leading association of property dealers
and experts, Nerukhomast, was present.
According to Yuri Trifonov, the invitation to Nerukhomast had been
sent. However, the Executive Director of the Association, Mr. Pikulik stated
that it was never received.
Of 51 state property objects offered at the auction that took place
during the fair, not a single one changed hands. Of five objects of communal
property, three had been sold.
One, a former kindergarten, was bought for 3.85 billion roubles with
a starting price of 792 million roubies. The remaining two objects, the
shops, were leased for 71.5 and 300 million roubles.
Another 27 property objects, located in Russia, Uzbekistan and the
Ukraine, were put up for an information auction. The auction has led to
further negotiations between the sellers and prospective buyers of these
objects.
If we were to neglect the definition of the event as a fair and assume
that its main purpose was to enable realtors to get together, rather than
to market property, the fair coutd probably be considered successful.
Nearly all presentations announced in the beginning had taken place;
some in a very informal environment and with audiences not exceeding several
dozen. One can only hope that this did not affect the quality of the information
that had been presented.
Speaking on the sale of state property by auction, the head of are
Department for Government Property Management, Oleg Melnikov, stated that,
for the first time since the start of the reform, the privatisation procedure
had been supplemented by a mechanism whereby the initial selling price
of a property object could be reduced by 50% if is not sold.
The Ministry of State Property is presently preparing a government
decree that would enable the reduction of the selling price depending on
the degree of radioactive contamination in the community where the property
is located, its population size and other factors. Melnikov assured the
audience that this country had all the necessary conditions to form an
efficient property market through auction sales.
In turn, MP Shlyndikov indicated that the majority of Parliament was
prepared for the radical changes in the economy.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade Mr. Dobromudrov focused on the issue
of foreign investments. He admitted that the amount of foreign investment
was far from meeting the needs of this country, and that most of it is
being made in trade, intermediary and consulting businesses, not in manufacturing
industries.
According to Dobromudrov, the formation of a favourable investment
climate should go along the following three lines:
(1) updating the existing legal framework;
(2) improving the investment infrastructure;
(3) active integration in the international investment process;
He named cooperation with the American companies Detroit Diesel and
Navistar, as well as the joint venture with Ford as positive examples of
such work. At the final round table meeting, delegates made an address
to the Executives Secretarial of the CIS, the government of Belarus and,
the organising committee, stating that the fair had made a great contribution
to information exchange between players in the property market.
The delegates also expressed a common wish to see the fair become a
regular event.
"Belorusskaya Galeta"
Currency market: Control still tight
Last weeks the currency exchange market saw a sharp drop ot the BRB
rate against all other currencies, and then its insignificant rise, caused
by large volumes of currency purchases in the market.
The growth of currency rates began two weeks ago. The US dollar rose
from BRB 19.420- 19.500 to BRB 22.200-22.300 per US dollar in the interbank
currency market on 21 to 25 October. This process reached its peak on Monday
and Tuesday of the following week, when the dollar traded at BRB 22.500-
22.600. Later on Tuesday, the rouble began to pick up. On 31 October, its
rate reached 21.550 - 21.650 per US dollar.
I The strengthening of the dollar resulted from the emplementation
of a joint decree of the National Bank and the Government - ordering the
banking sector to lend money for the repayment of back wages. Among other
factors that contributed to the shortage of dollar funds were seasonal
inflationary expectations and fears of a likely expansion of the President's
authority following the approval of his success in the constitutional referendum.
Altogether, these two factors were a tremendous encouragement for businessmen
to convert their rouble savings into dollars.
Experts expect that the current dynamics of the dollar rate may also
be affected by a telegram of the National Bank dated 21 October, authorising
the reopening of the inter-bank hard currency market.
The telegram enabled the authorised banks to trade in dollars, German
marks, Russian roubles and the new Ukrainian currency, Grivna, in amounts
not exceeding 30 round lots (i.e. $30.000, DM 30.000, RUR 3.000.000, UAH
30.000) in each transaction.
With the opening of the interbank currency market, the National Bank
also changed its control policies. A new mechanism of creating a semblance
of market was introduced, whereby all currencies whose rouble exchange
rates, regulated by the National Bank, would approach the limits of the
currency corridor and then retreat below the level on which they were the
day before.
On 29 October this policy was reversed. The National Bank returned
to maintaining fixed rates at the interbank exchange. The dollar traded
at 15,000 roubles, the German Mark at 9,920 and the Russian Rouble at 2.75.
The overall situation in the interbank currency exchange gives few
reasons for optimism. Foreign currency is being sold almost entirely for
the purchase of such commodities as fuel, corn and medical supplies. These
limitations negatively affect the situation in most of the enterprises,
forced to buy currency at a much higher rate in the interbank exchange.
They are also suffering substantial losses, as under the present rules
they are obliged to recalculate their hard currency transactions at the
rates that exist at the interbank exchange.
NEW BANK
The National Bank of Belarus has registered a new commercial bank,
Slavneftbank, owned jointly by Belarus and Russia. Under the foundation
agreement, Belarus owns 53% of the bank's shares and Russia 47%.
The Chairman of the bank's board of directors said that the clients
of the new bank would mainly be the companies active in the oil market.
He also indicated that the bank would pursue an "extremely careful"
policy in the choice of its clients.
Court's Verdict Unexpected
The Constitutional Court passed on 4 November its verdict on the Parliament's
resolution regarding the constitutional referendum. The Court confirmed
the legality of all items in the Parliament's resolution except item 3,
which stated that the results of the popular vote on the Presidential and
Parliamentary Constitution will be legally enforceable. In its ruling,
the Court suggested that these decisions should only have advisory power.
The Parliament, due to reconvene on 5 November, will now have to reconsider
its decision regarding the referendum. This will have to be done before
advance voting hegins on 9 November, an arrangement whereby voters who,
for various reasons, will not be able to turn up at the polling stations
on 24 November can vote before this date.
To the President, this may mean that, even with a positive vote, his
draft of the Constitution will still need Parliamentary approval and that
his Constitutional amendments may never be ratified. Changing the Constitution
by a Parliamentary procedure is a lengthy bureaucratic process that may
take years. Given the present status-quo in Parliament, the President may
never get a Parliamentary majority big enough to enact his amendments.
At the same time, the Constitutional Court's ruling does not deprive
the President of his constitutional right to hold his referendum but will
effectively control his attempts to increase his power. Responding to the
Court's ruling, the Presidential press service issued a statement condemning
the verdict as politically biased and meant to oppose the freedom of the
people to make a legally enforceable decision in a referendum.
Dissatisfied comments have also been made by officials from the Supreme
Court of Arbitration and other judicial institutions, in the evening news
programme on 4 November.
PRESIDENT - CONSTITUTIONAL COURT
The All-Belarusian Assembly convened by the President on 19 October
did not become, as anticipated, an instrument of a constitutional coup.
Apparently, the addresses of Parliament and the Constitutional Court, coupled
with a strong reaction from the West had indeed taken their effect. Most
observers agree, however, that as it frequently happens in this country,
the influence of Russia has been the greatest. On the eve of the assembly,
Yeltsin sacked his security chief Alexander Lebed, who was Lukashenko's
most important ally in Moscow.
Whatever the actual reason, the President did agree, in his address
to the Assembly to holding the referendum on 24 November, as proposed by
Parliament. In the final resolution, this concession was presented as a
compromise solution. The People's Assembly requested Parliament to with
- draw its questions from the ballot papers and its alternative Constitutional
draft.
Thus, this pompous event, which cost the taxpayer almost 10.billion
roubles, was nothing but a public relations act. The talks given by speakers,
as well as unanimous support for the Pecsidential proposals smacked strongly
of the old Communist Party congresses. Similarly, the President's big speech
brought back the old Soviet times.
The President had informed his audience that the US State Department
had lowered the status of the Belarusian Ambassador in Washington. From
now on, he can only meet with the low-standing officials of the State Department.
Alexander Lukashenko, however, stated that he himself would be prepared
to meet the American ambassador personally and at any time and added: "Embrace
your enemies and strangle them with open arms". He promptly corrected
himself, however, saying that Americans were not his enemies.
After the Assembly, the President made certain changes to his Constitution.
He promised to grant a constitutional status to people's assemblies, explaining
that this was the historical form of Slavonic democracy. Late this October,
the President issued a decree ordering newspaper Sovetskaya Belorussiya,
to publish as many copies of his draft as are necessary to reach every
voter.
The impression produced by the event on the Parliamentary majority
was rather weak. Parliament did not withdraw its questions for the referendum.
It even ignored the proposal of the People's Assembly altogether.
Shortly, Parliament took a two week holiday and the political struggle
shifted towards the Constitutional Court. In the mid September, the Speaker
of Parliament, Semion Sharetsky, addressed the Constitutional Court with
the request to consider the legality of the questions proposed for the
referendum.Under the existing Constitution, only the amendments to it,
not entire new drafts, can be offered for the referendum. The Constitutional
Court agreed to consider the case.
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