Investment Guide Real Estate

• Achieving aims • Profit from potential • Reducing risks • With the local experts: bnt Zabolis Partners: Retail and Real Estate in Central and Eastern Europe Investment Guide Real Estate Belarus: an Overview.......................................................................6 1.1 Geography..............................................................................6 1.2 Provinces and districts..........................................................8 1.3 Population.............................................................................10 1.4 Governmental Structure......................................................11 1.5 The Economy........................................................................12 1.5.1 GDP / Inflation......................................................................13 1.5.2 Foreign Trade.......................................................................15 1.5.3 Currency/Fiscal policy........................................................15 1.5.4 Privatisation and Investments............................................16 1.5.5 Interest rates.........................................................................16 1.5.6 Measures to attract investment to Belarus......................18 1.5.7 Barriers to investment in Belarus......................................21 1.5.8 Trends and Forecasts.........................................................25 2. Overview of Investment Regulation in Belarus..............................................................................25 2.1 Investment Code..................................................................26 2.2 Other Legal Provisions........................................................27 3. Real Estate -Legal environment........................................29 3.1. Introduction...........................................................................29 3.2. Real Property Rights...........................................................29 3.3. Real Property Register and other Registers...................32 3.4. Transactions..........................................................................34 3.4.1. Transfer of Real Estate.......................................................34 3.4.2. Leases...................................................................................35 3.4.3. Security for bank loans......................................................38 3.5. Expropriation.........................................................................40 3.6. Construction..........................................................................41 3.7. Taxation of real estate.........................................................41 3.7.1. Real Estate Tax....................................................................42 3.7.2. Land tax.................................................................................42 3.7.3. Sale of real estate...............................................................43 Appendix...........................................................................................45 3 Yet, good reasons exist for taking a deeper look at Belarus. Belarus attained independence in 1991 after seven decades as a constituent republic of the USSR. Any traveller coming to Minsk, the Bela-rusian capital, will be surprised by the massive ongoing construction works, in particular housing projects and business parks. Against this back-ground, the real estate sector appears attractive for certain investors. The increasing number of shopping centres and hypermarkets evidence a demand from Belarusian citizens for consumer products similar to those available in EU Member States. Since the ordinary living standards of almost 10 million Belarusian citizens still fall way below the European average, investments in creating an infrastructure for distributing consumer products seem attractive. In terms of number of inhabitants alone, the Belarusian market dwarfs the market of the three Baltic States combined. Like the real es-tate sector, the energy sector appears to provide lucrative investment opportunities. While Belarus depends on Russian energy sup-plies, it has taken advantage of highly favourable conditions. However, the drawback of the supply of cheap energy is that necessary modernization to the energy infrastructure is lacking. The same applies to investment in energy-saving measures. Increasing energy prices are now prompting Belarus to make up for this neglect. In general, investors can draw advantage from a strongly motivated young workforce. Additionally, unlike other states from the former Warsaw Pact, most of the skilled workforce have not as yet emigrated to Western countries. 4 Recent decisions by the Belarusian Government also give reason to put Belarus on the radar screen of potential. The creation of Free Economic Zones (FEZ) with various incentives is only one example of measures taken to attract foreign investment. On 3 June 2008, the Belarusian Prime Minister announced that ca 15 billion USD have been earmarked for a program to reform the economy within the next three years and to establish 680 modern enterprises in different industry sectors. According to the announcement, the majority of state-owned enterprises are to be transformed into private companies by 2010. The program also aims at reducing red tape and at easing business in general, not least with an eye to attracting foreign investment. Zabolis Partners and bnt Attorneys offer substan-tial experience in dealing with the commercial and legal challenges arising in relation to real estate investment in emerging markets. We have created this guide with the aim of introducing Belarus to potential real estate investors who will find not only a general overview of the country but also a more detailed introduction to the commercial and legal framework for real estate investment, describing both the potential as well as the risks. 5 ... - tailieumienphi.vn