Belarusians Ponder Mass Privatizations

Almost half of adults in Belarus are opposed to opening the country’s many state-owned companies to private enterprises, according to a poll by the Independent Institute for Social, Economic and Political Studies (IISEPS). 48.2 per cent of respondents think the majority of the country’s large-scale enterprises should remain in the government’s hands, while 39.7 per cent would agree with privatizing most of them. In addition, respondents are almost evenly divided on whether it would be acceptable to use Russian capital to privatize Belarusian companies. Belarus seceded from the Soviet Union in 1991. In 1994, independent candidate Aleksandr Lukashenko won the presidential election, boosted by his popularity after acting as chairman of an anti-corruption parliamentary committee. Lukashenko remains the country’s president to this... [read full story]