Belarus offers tax breaks to carmakers

Belarus is offering tax breaks to car companies willing to set up assembly plants in the ex-Soviet state and hopes ultimately to create a national automaking plant, a senior government official said on Monday.

Igor Rogozin, a senior economy minister official, told reporters a decree issued by President Alexander Lukashenko would exempt any company starting up a plant from all income and excise taxes for three years.

"This long-awaited decree has been signed and will allow us to create new production capacity for cars in our country," Rogozin told a news conference.