Stanislau Bahdankevich: Bank System Has More Important Issues Than Top-Managers’ Arrests

The share of troubled loans in Belarus is growing. It has increased more than twice since the beginning of the year.

Former Head of the National Bank Stanisalu Bahdankevich has told this in an interview to charter97.org.

– There appeared information about the arrest of a number of “Belarusbank” top-managers. What do you think about this?

– I read about the arrest on the internet. So far, it is difficult to say something as the details remain unknown. Most likely, initially this is connected with the detention of the first deputy of the “Belarusbank” managing director. Probably, he didn’t act alone, he had helpers, partners in crime. It is complicated to comment upon this as I am totally uninformed on all these events.

– How will the high-profile arrests affect the bank system?

– It’s some other issues that remain more important for the bank system. The problems are connected with the loans provided to the real sector, while the real sector is in the phase of recession and stagnation so it cannot return the previously taken loans. The loans were given, to a certain extent, for the expense of the population’s assets, for the expense of the investees’ deposits. These are the most important issues.

The share of troubled loans is increasing all the time. Since the beginning of this year, it grew more than twice. That is the main problem of the banking system. The fact that there are some fraudsters in it, so they have always been, and periodically appear in any of the banking system - both in the West and in the East, and in Belarus.