Chaly: Asking Russia for lower gas prices would be unfair now
The cost of the Russian gas may decrease a little for our country (from $142 to $135-140 for one thousand cubic metres), Russian Ambassador to Belarus Alexander Surikov told ONT. However, Alyaksandr Lukashenka did not discuss the gas prices during his visit to Moscow, Putin’s press secretary Dmitri Peskov said.
The prices for Russian gas may decrease, deputy Belarusian PM Uladzimir Syamashka said earlier. However, it would be unfair it Minsk demanded to decrease the gas prices because of the decreasing prices in the international market, economist Syarhei Chaly thinks. Belarusians used to ask Russia for such prices referring to being in the same union with Russia. Furthermore, Belarus knew about Gazprom’s intention to switch to netback gas prices.
Chaly: “It means that when the profitability decreases in the intentional market, it needs to be compensated by a price increase in the domestic market. We knew it and we should not be surprised now.”
However, it will not affect ordinary Belarusians. Consumers did not feel anything even when the gas prices decreased in the past, Syarhei Chaly explained. All the income was added to the budget.
Photo: ria.ru
