On June 8, Minsk /Tatyana Polezhay - BELTA/. President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has banned any price increases exceeding 3-5% without his knowledge. He stated this today at a meeting on topical economic issues, as reported by a BELTA correspondent. "I categorically prohibit any price movement exceeding 3-5% without my knowledge," he said. Alexander Lukashenko criticized the government's work on pricing. He recalled that a week ago at a meeting, he spoke about the need to pay serious attention to stabilizing the situation, both economically and socially, in the current difficult conditions. "The main problem that still concerns people is inflation. I instructed the Prime Minister, the governors, and the Mayor of Minsk to react in the harshest possible way to price increases. I was confident that these officials would make decisions thoughtfully and deliberately, because the main thing today is not just to make the budget fat and rich, but the main thing is to protect people," said the head of state. "At the same time, it is absolutely unacceptable, I warned about this categorically, to make sharp movements in pricing. Prices can only go down, not up," he stressed. In the opinion of the head of state, if a price adjustment was needed somewhere, it should have been done smoothly and carefully. "People should have had the opportunity to get used to any movement. What happened in reality? In one evening, you increased the price of fuel by as much as 30%," he said. According to the President, if it were necessary to increase only the price of fuel, it would be understandable. "But this is already a 'bouquet', prices have increased for everything!" the President emphasized. "Who thought about tomorrow when raising the price of fuel? Probably, everyone knows what will happen. Fuel means food, and to a lesser extent, clothing. Are you going to raise food prices again tomorrow?" the head of state addressed the attendees. "And in general, where will a person get money to support their family? Will you provide this money tomorrow, compensate every family for their losses? What about inflation? You don't live on another planet, you probably go to shops and see what's happening there," the President said. "Do you want to tell me that our prices today for goods, including the unfortunate fuel, are lower than in neighboring states. They are being exported. But up to this moment, no one has reported to me the facts of where they were detained, how much, who was transporting it, what measures were taken, etc.," the head of state noted.-0-