Economist: Lukashenka Pretends To Be Fool

What's behind the dictatorship's "reprimands"?

September 19, the Belarusian authorities held a meeting on the results of the economy over the past period of 2019. Lukashenko warned the government that if the plans, approved for the current year, are not implemented, tough personnel management decisions will follow:

"All those responsible - including the Prime Minister - will retire."

Prime Minister Siarhei Rumas could not please the head of the country. Out of 7 forecasts approved for 2019, only 4 are being fulfilled so far. Plans for exports, labor productivity and gross domestic product have not been achieved.

Particularly impressive is the failure of the latter indicator: with plans to grow by 4% of GDP in January-August, it grew by only 1.1%.

Economist Leu Marholin in his comment to UDF.BY expressed doubt that the government would be able to meet its targets by the end of the year.

"And this is not about the government. All our ministers are pawns, because they act in the space, allocated to them by Lukashenko. He hasn't given them an opportunity to carry out reforms for decades. He still believes that his strategy is correct. And the reasons for all the failures are the excess of executors, they do not know how to work. This leads to the conclusion: if nothing works, we need to change the executors," - Marholin explained the logic of the Belarusian leader.

The economist drew attention to Lukashenka's statement, in which he threatened the government with tough personnel decisions:

"And so that later I wasn't accused by some smart guys that we had an election campaign, you see. How many times have I said: I'm not going to run for parliament. What is my election campaign?"

"It's called pretending to be a fool. He pretends that he does not understand that we are talking about the " elections " x which will take place next year - the " presidential " ones. His phrase that the people should feel the positive results of the economy's work is just a sign of concern about the approaching of the notorious elections. He voiced his fears that the people would be dissatisfied with the lack of improvement of life," - Marholin said.

Who could more successfully replace Rumas within the current system?

"No one. Just as Rumas was not a successful substitute for Kabiakou. The person who will replace the current prime minister is doomed to the same failure, as any timid attempts made by the government to convince Lukashenka of the need for reforms are met with fierce resistance," - the economist summed up.