Opinions & Interviews

Belarusian PM sums up last year’s results, talks about plans for 2021

MINSK, 4 January (BelTA) – Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko summed up the results of the year in an interview with the Belarus 1 TV channel on 3 January, BelTA has learned.

According to the head of government, many important events happened last year. They included the commissioning of the Belarusian nuclear power plant, the completion of the project to develop the Belarusian National Biotechnology Corporation.</b>

“There was a very fruitful and constructive dialogue with the Russian Federation, one of our key partners in trade and economy. We have concluded several agreements beneficial for the country: about the changes in the terms of the loan agreement to build the nuclear power plants, about energy prices, unhindered access of Belarusian enterprises to the Russian market. Of course, we also interacted with other partners. We are confidently entering the year with a stable situation in the banking sector and the gold and foreign exchange reserves. There are no concerns over the work of enterprises,” Roman Golovchenko noted.

The prime minister said that the government has some tactical tasks to address in 2021.</b>

“It is important that we have approved the program of government activities for the coming five years. Now we are working to approve the country’s social and economic development program for the five-year period. It is very important for the country to have an approved budget. This is the country’s main financial document. We are grateful to the parliament which took an active part in the discussion of the country’s main financial document, and made many valuable proposals and adjustments to it. The head of state supported and agreed with the proposals of the government and the parliament. Therefore we are entering the new year with an already approved budget,” he said. The prime minister stressed that it is very important to enter the new year with the approved figures “so that we could solve the set tasks and not to be distracted by discussions and revisions”.

GDP growth target has been set at 1.8%. “We have set a very ambitious and difficult task. There is confidence however that this figure is achievable. Of course, a lot will depend on how the situation in the world will evolve during the second wave of the pandemic. The crisis of demand has not yet been overcome. The government is soon expected to approve the annual target plan for the country's development. It will comprise more detailed tools and describe how these figures will be achieved. It is the first time we will have such a document,” said Roman Golovchenko.

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