Energy sector to recover losses through higher tariffs for population

Belarusian Energy Ministry said that electricity tariffs for the real economy in 2016 would not change. As of September 1^st, 2015, losses in the energy sector totalled BYR 77.3 billion and were mainly due to the significant volume of foreign loans for the modernization of the energy system and revaluation of the credit cost after the national currency devaluation. In the future, industrial enterprises will continue accumulating bad debts for electricity, and tariffs for the population will increase in order to cover the losses of the energy companies, control over organisations paying their electricity bills will be tightened, and the industry will gradually get rid of non-core assets in order to further reduce costs. Cost of electricity is largely dependent on the BYR exchange rate due to the use of foreign currency to purchase natural gas and electricity. If the Belarusian rouble is devalued, electricity tariffs for the population may grow faster than incomes.