The Cult of Lukashenka and Economic Stimulus

Propagandists are intensifying their efforts to promote a personality cult around the person of Lukashenka. The government is returning to injecting cash to stimulate the economy.

For two weeks, officials force state collectives to publicly demonstrate loyalty to Lukashenka via mass discussion of his address to the Belarusian nation.

Regional officials are organising large-scale recruitment of employees of state-owned companies into “Belya Rus”. In Baranavichy, “zombie enterprise” employees set a new record for joining the ruling party.

The government gradually returns to stimulating economic growth through public sector cash injections, causing the total amount of money in circulation to continue to grow. The Belarusian economy has begun to recover, and companies report optimistic financial and economic expectations.

The government continues to search for ways to mitigate Lukashenka’s interference in price regulation, with an expert group developing alternative mechanisms.

State control continues to monitor pricing and restrictive trade measures. The State Control Committee suspended the operation of a toy store in Hrodna due to excessive trade allowances. The Ministry of Health raided “Euroopt” stores in Mahiliou.

The authorities are attempting to arrest the decline of the IT sector, which is showing the worst results since the beginning of the current crisis. Lukashenka actively interferes in the regulation of the industry and orders reorienting High Technology Park activity to Asian markets.

There is no consensus among the ruling class about pension reforms, which affect many retirees and cause dissatisfaction among this group.

Despite personnel shortages, the security forces continue persecuting dissidents, conducting raids and detentions in the regions to eradicate the underground protest movement. The regime plans to maintain repression and even increase the number of detainees. Security forces conduct “preventive conversations”, inspect houses and telephones, and arrest activists in Pruzhany, Pinsk, and Dziarzhynsk.

The ruling class will continue to support the public sector to stimulate the economy.