Belarusian authorities plan new taxes and migrant imports to cover deficit – intelligence

This was reported by the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine, Ukrinform notes.

According to intelligence, the regime of self-proclaimed president Alexander Lukashenko is under dual pressure — a labor shortage and a growing budget deficit, which creates risks for Belarus’s pension system.

“Authorities of the rb are considering three main scenarios to resolve the problem: raising taxes and fees, mass recruitment of migrant workers, or cutting social spending. If the deficit becomes critical and there are not enough funds even to pay pensions, new tax initiatives will be the first step,” the report states.

The situation is worsened by demographic trends: the population is aging, the birth rate is falling, and labor resources are not being replenished.

The outflow of the workforce was exacerbated by the wave of emigration after the 2020 repressions, when tens of thousands of qualified specialists, from doctors to engineers, left the country.

The most acute shortage is in working and technical professions.

“Lukashenko is currently trying to compensate for the labor shortage by agreeing to bring in migrants from Asian countries. According to minsk’s plans, hundreds of thousands of foreign workers are to be brought into the country,” the Foreign Intelligence Service reported.

As reported by Ukrinform, Belarusian authorities plan to seize part of the profits of banking institutions to finance the economy, whose growth rates are declining.

Photo: DPA