News & Events in Belarus

Andrei Kobyakov noted that the Council of Ministers should take prompt and systemic measures to deal with bottlenecks in economic development without disrupting the balance of the economy. In conditions of instability and high variability of international markets the key task of the government and the central bank has been and will be securing the macroeconomic stability and preserving the necessary level of social protection of the population.

In his words, Belarus pays out foreign currency debts in full and on time without any harm to the international reserve assets. Surplus of the central state budget is used to repay the principal debt. The surplus totaled Br16.4 trillion or 2.6% of the GDP in January-September 2015.

The Prime Minister noted that the currency market is stable, Belarusians have sold more foreign currency than they bought since the beginning of the year — nearly $350 million. The foreign trade is balanced. The surplus of trade in merchandise and services totaled $1.2 billion in January-September 2015. It is the best result in the last 15 years. Hence the state of the country’s balance of payments has improved, stated the Prime Minister.

Andrei Kobyakov noted that the state budget honors all the social security commitments and those concerning state support for the real sector of the economy. At the same time no economic growth was registered in January-September 2015. “In the nine months the GDP dropped by 3.7% in comparison with last year and by 3.9% in January-October. The industrial output volume was at 92.9% in the last three months. So as far as the production sector is concerned, we are not falling but we are not growing either,” explained the Belarusian head of government. According to the Prime Minister, the largest decrease in merchandise output was registered in enterprises accountable to the Industry Ministry, the Architecture and Construction Ministry, the light industry concern Bellegprom, the timber, woodworking, pulp and paper industry concern Bellesbumprom, and the food industry concern Belgospishcheprom. Agribusiness development is below expectations. All the regions are below last year’s figures in terms of the gross regional product. Minsk and Vitebsk Oblast are the ones lagging behind everyone else, stated Andrei Kobyakov.

The Belarusian head of government gave instructions to secure the resumption of economic growth while taking care of three main priorities: the foreign debt should not be increased, the dependence on external factors should be reduced as much as possible, sustainable balanced growth should be secured without accelerating the inflation and devaluation spirals. “Export and investments should be the main sources of growth at this stage and in these conditions,” said Andrei Kobyakov.