Events

MINSK, 11 November (BelTA) – A new effective government will be formed before the new year, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said as he heard out a report of the government and the National Bank on Belarus’ economic performance in 2014 and the forecast for 2015 on 11 November, BelTA has learned.

"I did not hide my plans. The issue number one for me, keeping in mind the formula “cadres is all important”, is to form the effective government prior to the start of the new year, Alexander Lukashenko said addressing Prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich. The President noted that the government developed the basic parameters of the socio-economic development and committed to them. The head of state asked what the January-September results were. The Prime Minister acknowledged that at the moment most of the targets were not met.

In this connection Alexander Lukashenko rightly observed that the 2015 plans are based on the results of the work in 2014 and their viability can be questioned already.

The President is confident that poor exports are associated not with external circumstances, but with the inefficient work of the enterprises and relevant industries themselves. In this regard, the essential requirement is to improve the quality and reduce the cost of products, to pursue aggressive marketing policies and strategies to promote products in foreign markets.

The Prime Minister reported to the head of state on the development of the real production sector of the Belarusian economy, ways to overcome negative trends and proposals to ensure the balanced development of Belarus in 2015. He noted that despite the shortcomings, the economy has shown growth even in the face of serious and unforeseeable external difficulties. "In 2015, we need to use, as in previous years, the program-target method. But we suggest using new approaches in the forecast of balanced economic growth, eliminating the repetition of the errors, which were, unfortunately, made,” said the Prime Minister.

Mikhail Myasnikovich made one of the main emphases on the need for effective management of investment resources. He suggested directing them towards the creation of new industries and modernization of the existing ones. The government and the National Bank have agreed on the 2015 budget monetary balance. Thus, the budgetary foreign currency expenditures are linked to foreign exchange revenues. The government and the National Bank will work to increase the volume of gold and currency reserves of the country.

The draft budget provides for additional resources for export promotion in 2015. The production facilities upgraded in 2014 are expected to make a significant contribution to export promotion. The government projects a significant increase in the export of timber and steel products, cement, leather and footwear, tires, and pharmaceuticals. In 2015 the export innovative goods is projected to exceed $10 billion, 25% above the five-year target.

The Prime Minister reported on the plans to reduce the backlogs of inventory at enterprises, reduce foreign receivables. Given the high export risks, special attention in 2015 will be paid to the issues of import optimization.

In his report, Mikhail Myasnikovich also touched upon the key issues of the development of economic sectors, shortcomings and ways to resolve them.

The Chairman of the State Control Committee Leonid Anfimov confirmed that the main indicators of the socio-economic development were failed not because of any objective prerequisites, for example, negative trends in the global economy, but because of the disorganization, sluggishness, wastefulness, and somewhere excessive self-confidence in making management decisions.

Leonid Anfimov criticized the situation with the level of backlog of inventories and debt portfolio. A number of large-scale projects were not implemented in time, and thus the expected returns were lost. One of the main forecast indicators for the next year is the volume of sold products and proceeds. Of course we should see GDP, the industrial and rural development. However, all these will not matter if we have no currency inflow,” the Chairman of the State Control Committee said.

According to Leonid Anfimov, there are many drawbacks in the monetary and credit policy. The gap between the real sector of the economy and the banking system of the country is huge.