Belarusian economy 30 years ago, what it looked like
In his talk with the Belarus 1 TV channel, Viktor Sheiman, the President’s Special Envoy, the first State Secretary of Belarus’ Security Council, revealed what Belarus was like 30 years ago when it organised first presidential elections
As noted by Mr. Sheiman, the largest enterprises — MAZ, BELAZ, MTZ — stopped operation at that time, and people failed to receive salaries. "Wages were not paid for 6-8 months at some of our enterprises. Actually, people needed money to live, and – when proposing his candidacy – the Head of State promised that the plants would resume their work. He promised to give people the opportunity to work and be paid,” he said.
In September 1994, Aleksandr Lukashenko instructed Mr. Sheiman to prepare a visit to the National Bank of Belarus to check the gold and foreign currency reserves. "The gold reserve of the state made just 5kg of gold in September 1994, and there was nothing else. The Head of State began his work against that background, against that state of the economy. There were no Dollars, no Pounds, nothing in the accounts," the Special Envoy said.
In addition, crime and corruption were escalating in the country, and the President had to solve issues immediately, without losing time. Large-scale work began…
