Lukashenka: “I feel 2009-2010 will be uneasy”

Alyaksandr Lukashenka said he was going to discuss gas prices for Belarus in 2009 with the Russian authorities. He admitted that gas negotiations were “hard”.

“Talks are hard every year, I don’t exclude this may happen this year, too. We are meeting with the Russian authorities soon to discuss this issue. But our prospects are not so bad judging from world prices,” Lukashenka said during his working trip in the Minsk region on December 16, Interfax reports.

“World gas prices are falling due to decline in oil prices. It is good on the one hand. But we should take into account we haven’t bought Russian gas at world prices,” Lukashenka stated.

According to him, experts’ estimations prove that “after this fraudulent crisis is over, oil prices wil increase”. “There are no guarantees gas prices won’t go up after oil prices increase, so we must expect gas won’t be cheap,” Lukashenka said.

“Gas is not cheap today, nobody knows how much it will cost tomorrow. Local authorities and economic executives should think today how gas supply may be used effectively. High priority tasks are reduction of energy intensity of production in real economy, energy efficiency in domestic household,” the Belarusian ruler said.

“We must survive in 2009-2010, I feel these two years will be uneasy, but we shouldn’t panic. We can manage the situation,” Lukashenka said.

“We won’t let our people down,” he emphasised. “We see how private traders in Russia live. The crisis began and they closed their enterprises. Fortunately, we restrained ourselves from privatization,” Lukashenka noted.

According to him, “our main task is selling goods.” “The crisis is dangerous for us because sales are decreasing, so we need to trade in any possible places,” A. Lukashenka said. “It is the third crisis I have met,” the head of state noted. He said the global financial crisis “oil prices and metal prices fell”. In this connection, according to A. Lukashenka, “we should weight prices and control them”.

It should be reminded that yesterday, a number of Russian media reported referring to Gazprom that gas prices for Belarus may amount to $260 per 1,000 cubic meters next year.