The Development Bank of the Republic of Belarus will become the core owner of the company Promagroleasing by 1 March 2013, the bank’s Chairman of the Board Mr Sergei Rumas told media on 28 January.

BelTA has learned that as many as 62.5% of the shares (state-owned ones) of the company will be transferred to the authorized fund of the bank.

In line with Belarus president decree No. 45 the company will submit 62.5% of the shares (owned by the state) to the authorized fund of the Development Bank, remarked Sergei Rumas. Thus, the Development Bank will become the core owner of the national leasing operator OAO Promagroleasing.

“Without waiting for the transfer [of the shares] we are initiating an audit of Promagroleasing’s operation for the sake of getting clear understanding of the company that will become a daughter enterprise of ours and for the sake of understanding why the organization, in which the government has poured over Br1 trillion, has not become the national leasing operator yet. I say it because the volume of new business in the export of Belarusian merchandise using Promagroleasing leasing schemes totaled about $22 million in 2011. The threshold of $30 million was not surpassed in 2012 either,” said Sergei Rumas.

The Development Bank has clear-cut instructions from the government: build clear, understandable and acceptable schemes for export-oriented enterprises so that Belarusian machines could compete on equal terms on foreign markets with the foreign manufacturers that use leasing schemes.

Sergei Rumas also mentioned possible prospects of the Belarusian Fund for the Financial Support of Entrepreneurs. For now the decision to make the Fund part of the Bank has not been made. “In 2014 we plan to get down to working out the program to support small and medium business via Development Bank. The matter may be decided then in package,” the head of the bank hazarded a guess.

OAO Development Bank of the Republic of Belarus was created in 2011 by the relevant presidential decree. The bank is designed to focus on financing government programs and socially important investment projects. The founders are the Council of Ministers and the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus. Mr Sergei Rumas has been appointed Chairman of the Board of the Development Bank. In 2013 the Bank intends to issue at least Br5.5 trillion in loans for the implementation of investment projects. According to the Finance Ministry, in January-September 2012 the Development Bank was one of the most profitable public joint-stock companies of Belarus, with net profit at Br2.5 trillion.


 

Belta