DISINFO: Belarus will follow the path of Poland, losing its national property to Western corporations

This message is a pro-Communist disiformation narrative promoting the idea that liberal economic reforms cause exceptionally negative economic downsides, such as the loss of the “national” property, unemployment and “evil” presence of Western corporations. In addition, this message distorts the presentation of the socio-economic situation in Belarus presenting this country as a highly developed Communist-style welfare state, while the Capitalist/EU countries face challenges such as unemployment and homelessness. For years, the “unique” economic model of Alyaksandar Lukashenka has been based on direct Russian subsidies – when Russia reduced the volume of these subsidies, the Lukashenka’s economic model started to collapse very fast. One of the main reasons for the current protests in Belarus is the dramatic reduction in the level of life of the population, which has been taking place during recent years. At the present moment, Belarus is one of the poorest countries in Europe – it has a lower GDP per capita than any EU member state. Other socio-economic indicators also prove that Belarus has a substantially lower level of life than any other EU member state – life expectancy (74 – one of the lowest in Europe), minimal salary – 124 EUR (lowest in Europe), unemployment benefit – from 9 to 18 euros per month (a “symbolic” payment); average salary – 440 EUR. In terms of the “symbolic cost of municipal services”, the Belarusian authorities recognise that the population pays 83% of the market price of these services. Today, the population pays market price for all services with the exception of hot water and heating (as for 2020). In terms of “free education”, 54% of the students of the Belarusian universities pay for their studies. As concerns Poland, as a result of its transition from Communism to Capitalism, Poland has become one of Europe’s most dynamic economies, enjoying uninterrupted economic growth since the early 1990s, with average GDP growth of 4.2% a year, doubling its GDP between 1990 and 2015. This growth has allowed Poland to narrow the economic gap with the EU's most developed economies: the Polish GDP (at PPP) increased from 32% to 60% of the Western European average. The disinformation message appeared in the same publication as a claim that The “Solidarity” Movement did not save Poland from evil neo-Liberal Trans-Atlantic Globalist systems.