OREANDA-NEWS. February 25, 2011. About 30 Belarusian companies may go public in the next five years, the executive director of the Russian Business Service Mikhail Matovnikov said during the first Belarusian IR-Forum.

According to him, Belarus has enough companies who have something to offer to investors.

Vladimir Khlabordov, the head of the legal department of the Economy Ministry of Belarus, agreed with this evaluation. He noted that one of the goals of the Economy Ministry is to increase the amount of direct investment.

When speaking on the use of international financial reporting standards in Belarus, Mikhail Matovnikov stressed that IFRS require special skills, highly trained staff. At the same time he thinks that there is no need for mass-scale application of international financial reporting standards in Belarus.

Among the main obstacles to foreign direct investment in Belarus the analyst highlighted the lack of availability of financial information on Belarusian commercial organizations. “Non-transparency of enterprises is often the consequence of complex decisions taken at the level of the owners. Businesses have to seek a balance between the disclosure of financial information that an investor is interested in and economic secrets. In this regard the reporting system of an enterprise plays a special role here, he said.