Belarus’ largest bank Belarusbank is not going to raise the interest rate for preferential home loans, Belarusbank Chairman of the Board Nadezhda Yermakova told BelTA. She took part in a Christmas charity action in a Bobruisk boarding school on January 10. In her words, interest rates for long-term preferential loans used to build homes will remain the same and will not exceed 3-5%. Losses of the bank will be compensated by the government. This year the volume of preferential home loans...

Appointing first deputy and deputy head of the Presidential Administration on January 9, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko urged the Administration to change the style of its work, BelTA learnt from the press service of the Belarusian leader. “The Administration should change the style of the work. It should become a real think-tank of the President,” he said. The Administration should not fulfill the functions of other government bodies to correct someone else’s faults....

The legal preparation of conditions for the favourable operation of the representative office of the Commission of European Communities (CEC) in Belarus is coming to an end. The press service of the Belarusian head of state told BelTA, on January 6 Alexander Lukashenko signed the law “Ratification of the agreement between the Republic of Belarus and the Commission of European Communities on the establishment, privileges, and immunities of the Representative Office of the Commission of...

President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has signed a decree to set the limit of the 2009 national budget deficit as large as zero rubles, the press service of the head of state told BelTA. Thus, revenues of the national budget are supposed to be equal to expenses of the national budget. БЕЛТА

The Belarusian industry should secure the growing market of consumer goods, said Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky during a visit to Belarusian Autoworks in Zhodino on January 5. He remarked, Belarus-made consumer goods should be available on the home market. “We should restore the production of the maximum line-up of industrial goods ranging from simple to complicated ones for the consumer market,” said the Prime Minister. In his words, during the global financial crisis while...

The accommodation for 631 families who live in shabby houses or houses that are in a dangerous condition will be built in Belarus in 2009, BelTA learnt from the housing construction department of the Belarusian Ministry of Construction and Architecture. The total area of the housing to be put in operation is 37.4 thousand square meters. In the Brest oblast 95 families will get new apartments, in the Vitebsk oblast – 60, in the Gomel oblast – 80, in the Grodno oblast 120, in the Minsk...

The Government of Belarus issued Resolution No 2020 to introduce a new minimum wage, BelTA learnt from the Council of Ministers’ Office. In line with the resolution, the monthly minimum wage will amount to Br229,000, the hourly minimum wage – to Br1,360. Commenting upon the document, Viktor Sidorovich, the chief of the department for regulation and standardization of labour of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, said that the minimum wage is the lowest amount of money that can...

The Belorusneft Company has supplied 38 railway cars with the production equipment, which will be used in the oil industry maintenance services, to Venezuela, BelTA learnt from the press service of Belorusneft. The delivery of the special equipment to Venezuela is a regular step on the way of the development of the cooperation between the Belorusneft Company and the Venezuelan National Oil Company. The sides agreed to cooperate in the oil industry maintenance services during a visit of a...

A new oil deposit named as Geologicheskoye has been found at the border of the Svetlogorsk and Rechitsa regions of the Gomel oblast, press service of Belorusneft company told BelTA. On December 27 when exploring a productive strata 4,400-4,500 metres deep an influx of high-gravity oil with the density of 0.78 grams per cubic centimetre, with the debit as high as 120 cubic metres daily, was achieved. The well is being examined to assess the reserves of the oil field. The initial geological...

The volume of gas transported in Belarus in 2008 has increased by 4% to 73 billion cubic metres, OAO Beltransgaz First Deputy Director General Tsvitomir Sorokhan told a press conference on December 24. This year Beltransgaz has reached all performance goals. In 2008 73 billion cubic metres of gas has been transported from Russia via and across Belarus. It is the highest figure registered in recent years, said Tsvitomir Sorokhan. Gas transit amounted to 51.6 billion, which is much higher than...