OREANDA-NEWS. Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko has assured that the Belarusian ruble will not be devalued. He also promised to give the nation a six-month notice, if the government should decide in favour of ruble redenomination.

If needed, the necessary resources will be allocated from the gold and currency reserves to maintain the exchange rate of the national currency, Lukashenko said during a meeting with the heads of the largest Belarusian mass media outlets.

“We have enough reserves. Soon we will get around USD 1.5 billion in loans from the Russian Federation to beef up our gold and foreign currency reserves.”

“I said that we will not do the artificial devaluation of the national currency to give a breath of air (though it could be a good thing) to BelAZ, MAZ, and other major companies. The devaluation of the national currency always results in price growth. We have been there. Therefore, we will not do it: 25%, 30%, or 15% devaluation will not happen. If we have an opportunity, we will maintain the stability of the national currency, but not excessively,” Lukashenko said.

Referring to the terms and conditions of the Russian credit, Lukashenko had this to say: “Yes, I sought and asked for loans. I borrowed this money, named the lenders. I do not think I did anything wrong.”

“In case of urgency, we will support the economy provided we have excess reserves. There should be no fears. People will get their salaries,” he said.

I did not violate any objective economic laws. As the head of state I did everything to maintain the stability of the national currency, at least at this stage. I will act like this in the future, keeping the exchange rate issue on my radar. I showed that all the arguments provided by our financial experts who sit idle are good for nothing,” the head of state said.