Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 24 October (BelTA) – There is no likelihood that the crisis that happened in Belarus in 2011 will strike again, Economy Minister of Belarus Nikolai Snopkov told reporters at the parliament on 24 October, BelTA has learnt.

When asked by journalists what are the odds that Belarus will experience a crisis similar to the one that occurred in 2011, the Economy Minister noted that some experts are concerned about it considering the state of affairs with the balance of payments and export. “However this will not happen for sure,” Nikolai Snopkov said.

The current account deficit is to be rectified by means of refinancing. The sources of refinancing might include direct investments (Belarus has plans to receive up to $2.5 billion of them in 2013), tranches of the EurAsEC Anti-Crisis Fund, eurobonds, reinvested revenues of companies. “As of today, we have 1,300 agreements as part of Decree No. 10 estimated at a huge amount of money,” the Economy Minister said.

“Export is the most pressing issue. However, agricultural products make up successfully for the losses of the mechanical engineering industry,” Nikolai Snopkov said. One of the major components of Belarus’ export is ferrous metallurgy. BMZ is completing its upgrade program in 2013 and will reach its designed capacity in 2014, which will help increase export, he said.

“Therefore, we do not see any major threats,” the Economy Minister said.