Google Cloud Speech-to-Text API (Chirp) + Gemini 2.5 Flash Non-Thinking. Treat it as a searchable index of what was broadcast, not a quotation record.
00:01:05Sphere of interests on the first informational channel, we talk about
00:01:08notable events in the economy. I am
00:01:11Svetlana Lukiniuk. First, the main topics of today's
00:01:14issue. The National Bank increases the permissible level of debt
00:01:18burden indicators and softens the requirements to obtain a loan for Belarusian
00:01:22goods. In Belarus, the growth of investments in fixed assets is accelerating. What
00:01:26is the reason for the inflow and which industries are most interesting for
00:01:29investments? The enterprises of consumer cooperatives are having a hot
00:01:33time, people are actively bringing what they have grown in their gardens with
00:01:36abundance. We went and saw it. We will tell you about all this, and
00:01:40also about the current exchange rates in the next 15
00:01:43minutes. The National Bank softens
00:01:47the requirements for recipients of loans for Belarusian goods,
00:01:50increasing from 40 to 50% the permissible
00:01:53level of the debt burden indicator when providing
00:01:56loans for goods, works and services produced in Belarus.
00:02:10We will talk more about this right now with the Deputy Chairman
00:02:14of the Board of the National Bank of Belarus Andrei Kartun. Andrei
00:02:17Mikhailovich, we welcome you. So, tell us more about
00:02:21our possibilities for borrowers to purchase
00:02:24Belarusian goods. What does this increase in
00:02:28the debt burden threshold mean? Well, let's start with what the debt
00:02:31burden indicator is, so that everyone understands. It is essentially
00:02:34the ratio of all your credit payments that
00:02:38you are currently making and that you will potentially make with this loan
00:02:42for which you apply to the bank, to your
00:02:45total income. Accordingly, this
00:02:48standard is currently set at 40%. This means
00:02:51that your loan payments cannot exceed 40%
00:02:55of your income in ratio. That is, the bank looks at
00:02:58this, yes, certain deviations are allowed, plus or minus,
00:03:01no more than 10% for certain types of credit,
00:03:04but in general, banks always adhere to it. But in fact,
00:03:08we don't have such a high debt burden indicator for
00:03:12the population in principle, we have a little more than 27%.
00:03:16This is the exact debt burden indicator,
00:03:20well, if we compare it with many countries in the world, it is one of the lowest
00:03:23indicators. We have such remarkable statistics,
00:03:27somewhere around 1.80 with
00:03:30some hundredths. This accounts
00:03:34for loans for our entire population, that is, not many
00:03:37loans, just over one, well, maybe almost two. So,
00:03:41we decided to expand
00:03:44this corridor, to set it at
00:03:4850% for goods from domestic producers. We
00:03:51see that there is good dynamics for loans for goods
00:03:54of domestic production, there was more than 35%
00:03:58in the first half of the year... We just looked at
00:04:01potential borrowers and in general, the structure of
00:04:04borrowers, who they are, who takes
00:04:08loans for domestic products, namely
00:04:10consumer goods, for furniture and household appliances. So,
00:04:14predominantly, if we look at the clients,
00:04:17these are clients with an income from
00:04:202,000 to 3,000, this is actually more than
00:04:23half of all potential borrowers
00:04:27of banks who take such loans. Therefore,
00:04:30it is precisely these borrowers, it is clear that due
00:04:34to the limited nature of their income, they run into this
00:04:3740% coefficient that I mentioned. Accordingly, we
00:04:41decided to slightly increase this threshold for this
00:04:44category of loans, and accordingly, you
00:04:47will no longer have enough for just two chairs,
00:04:51or perhaps you will have enough for a sofa at
00:04:54some relatively low income level,
00:04:57that's exactly what we are increasing. Chairman
00:05:43of the Board of the National Bank of Belarus Andrei
00:05:45Kartun.
00:05:48In Belarus, the growth of investments in fixed assets is accelerating. In
00:05:51January-June, the volume of investments increased by more than
00:05:554% year-on-year, after one and a half percent in
00:05:58January-May. Capital inflow is a new opportunity for individual
00:06:02enterprises and economic growth in general. The Eurasian Development
00:06:05Bank forecasts an increase in investment activity
00:06:09and GDP growth. What is the reason for this?
00:06:42activity after a slump at the beginning of the year. Well,
00:06:46I recall that in January-February, this, as we
00:06:49believe, slump was largely due to weather
00:06:52factors, that is, abnormally low temperatures in winter
00:06:56generally significantly limited opportunities for construction, which in general
00:07:00is an important component of investment. Well,
00:07:03in the second quarter, as we see, investments grew by 10% in
00:07:07annual terms, this is after a decrease of
00:07:092.7% in the first. Well,
00:07:13it is clear that partly the growth is due to the recovery dynamics
00:07:16of contract work, but this is due to the fact that construction
00:07:20organizations increased activity after forced
00:07:23downtime in the first months, but we
00:07:26believe that this is only one factor.
00:07:30An important role, in our opinion, is played by state policy to stimulate
00:07:34investments. If we look at investments from
00:07:37the point of view of financing,
00:07:40then in general, all the growth for the first half of the year, which amounted
00:07:44to 4.1%, was provided by budget
00:07:48sources of bank loans. I would like to dwell
00:07:51on the last source in more detail,
00:07:55but in principle, under the policy of the National Bank to
00:07:58stimulate investments,
00:08:02investment loans for the first
00:08:05half of the year were issued by banks in the amount of about 3.6
00:08:08billion rubles, excuse me,
00:08:42is it possible to attract loans and not use your own funds, which
00:08:46can be used, for example, for turnover?
00:08:49As for the Eurasian region as a whole, what do analysts
00:08:52of the EDB note regarding investment activity, for example,
00:08:56in the Central Asian countries?
00:08:59Well, if we look at it as a whole, then
00:09:03high investments are indeed maintained in the regions of Central Asia and
00:09:06Armenia. The growth there is largely
00:09:07due
00:09:10to indeed high investment activity, because the countries are actively
00:09:13developing, they have,
00:09:17among other things, the so-called demographic dividend,
00:09:20they have too much young population,
00:09:24which needs new jobs. Well, here I would
00:09:27also talk about the state's
00:09:29policy, primarily Kazakhstan and
00:09:33Uzbekistan, which are pursuing an active
00:09:35policy. Well, Kazakhstan is
00:09:39diversifying its economy, Uzbekistan is industrializing
00:09:42its economy, and naturally, when you start, especially for
00:09:46Uzbekistan from a low base, the growth rates of investment will always be
00:09:49high. As for the Russian
00:09:52Federation, here we observe a decline in investment
00:09:55activity, this is due
00:09:58to the strict monetary policy pursued by the Central
00:10:01Bank, but this was aimed at
00:10:05reducing inflation, well, in principle, according to the latest
00:10:08figures, we see that he succeeded in this.
00:10:13Probably, one can expect a gradual
00:10:16easing of monetary
00:10:19conditions, which
00:10:21will allow gradually restarting
00:10:25the investment cycle, well, probably,
00:10:28one can expect it no earlier than 2027.
00:10:31Thank you very much, this was Anton Dolgovechny, senior
00:10:35analyst at the Eurasian Development Bank.
00:10:38Now, the results of trading on the Belarusian currency and stock exchange. The Belarusian ruble
00:10:42strengthened against the Russian ruble, lost value against the dollar and yuan.
00:10:45So, the dollar costs 2 rubles 94 kopecks.
00:10:49The euro exchange rate according to the National Bank is 3.39. For 10
00:10:53yuan, 4 rubles were given at the auction.
00:11:03And now we will tell you about the opportunity to earn money for those who have grown a good
00:11:07harvest. So, in the last six months, Belarusians have sold surplus
00:11:10agricultural products for almost 80 million rubles. Now
00:11:14the enterprises of consumer cooperatives are working hard, people are actively
00:11:17bringing what they have grown in their gardens in abundance. Belkapsoyuz helps
00:11:21with such a wealth of household gifts.
00:11:25It sets itself a triple task - to buy, preserve and
00:11:28sell. Our correspondent Anastasia
00:11:31Strelkovskaya on why coming to the procurement
00:11:34point, you won't leave empty-handed, you'll be in the black
00:11:38and help the country.
00:11:41Every summer, especially one like this, sometimes pleasing us with rain, sometimes
00:11:44with scorching sun, is a time when many lovers of working
00:11:48on their plots somewhere outside the city become owners of that
00:11:52very useful currency, in the form of cucumbers, tomatoes,
00:11:55apples, mushrooms and berries. Some use their capital
00:11:59themselves, some exchange it for a penny, already
00:12:02real, though maybe not a penny. For
00:12:05Vitaly Chuchot, the road to the procurement point,
00:12:08which is at the market in Slutsk, has long been trodden. Everyone knows
00:12:12him here and loves what he brings, juicy fruits
00:12:15of the land of the agro-town Viseya. We plant vegetables,
00:12:18potatoes, beets, onions,
00:12:22as far as possible we prepare for ourselves.
00:12:25to live for a year, and the rest, what
00:12:29is superfluous, we hand over here to the reception point, we earn money on this
00:12:32and quite well, we save for our children's
00:12:35education, everything, they help us, and we
00:12:39all work together as a family. Any ways to replenish the family
00:12:43budget are good, especially when you sell at adequate prices.
00:12:46Potatoes for a kilogram from 80 kopecks. Tomatoes from
00:12:502.5 rubles, chanterelles from six. If
00:12:53you also take into account that not...
00:13:14but the main mass of potatoes, chanterelles we have seasonally, blueberries,
00:13:16cranberries, strawberries, garden
00:13:19strawberries, well, everyone brings them little by little.
00:13:23The past six months have shown that the country's cooperatives
00:13:27were able to increase procurement volumes by
00:13:3014% more than in the same period in 2025.
00:13:34During this time, they purchased a total of 6,000 tons of potatoes,
00:13:3711,000 tons of vegetables, fruits and berries,
00:13:404,500 and over 20
00:13:43tons of wild plants, and the assortment of products being sold delights
00:13:47with its variety. Today Belarusian cucumbers are present year-round
00:13:50in retail chains, tomatoes, then early
00:13:54cabbage. Moreover, cabbage comes in numerous varieties,
00:13:57both white cabbage and cauliflower, and
00:14:01Chinese cabbage, Brussels sprouts, and so on,
00:14:04carrots, beets, onions, garlic, the same
00:14:07zucchini, eggplants, peppers, all of this
00:14:11we are ready to purchase from the population today and sell
00:14:15on the domestic market, as well as to processing enterprises of the Republic
00:14:18of Belarus. And if you still decide to give something from your
00:14:22bins, but there is a fear that your labor will be wasted
00:14:25somewhere else, then there is nothing
00:14:28to worry about, the question of where to sell the goods does not even
00:14:32arise. The products that we procure, we
00:14:35sell through our own retail network, we have a store on the market
00:14:39territory, and an auto shop,
00:14:42as well as to third-party organizations, baby
00:14:45food, canteens, the supplier has the opportunity
00:14:49to deliver these products either through
00:14:52the reception and procurement point located at... to sell apples,
00:15:10which have grown so well this year. But there is an
00:15:14answer: everyone has the right to order a car to take away their
00:15:17rich harvest. But there is also that category of owners who
00:15:21enjoy trying on the role of a sales manager.
00:16:07his assistants, that there is enough for himself and others
00:16:10get some. Our consumer cooperation only helps this
00:16:14abundance not to go to waste, so that everyone who bought or sold
00:16:18would benefit. Anastasia Strelkovskaya, Alexander
00:16:21Yasyulevich, sphere
00:16:23of interests.
00:16:29This is the first informational, main news in economics and finance, as well as
00:16:32relevant comments. Watch the sphere of interests
00:16:36stay on our channel.