Lukashenko on development of tobacco industry: we found opportunities to offset effects of sanctions

Today, President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko has convened a meeting on improving the production and sale of tobacco goods. Anticipating the discussion, the Head of State noted that tobacco, as well as alcohol, are those goods that the state has controlled and will control, no matter what.

photo: wwwpresident.gov.by

The Head of State recalled how acute this problem was in the early 2000s. At that time, Aleksandr Lukashenko noted, a number of decisions were made to support the tobacco industry, which enabled to load production facilities and receive appropriate revenues to the budget.

“To develop this, an investment project was implemented six years ago to create a specialised non-governmental tobacco sales network and develop export supplies. Moreover, we have found opportunities to offset the effects of sanctions and provide ourselves with raw materials. As a result, the tobacco industry remains one of the significant sources of budget replenishment, bringing Br2.5bn [net effect] last year,” the President stressed.