Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 14 January (BelTA) – To increase export must become the top priority for the Belarus economy in 2014. The statement was made by Belarusian Economy Minister Nikolai Snopkov at the session of the Council of Ministers Presidium on 14 January, BelTA has learned.

The Minister remarked that the social and economic development targets set for the year 2014 are objective and are meant to ensure the stable operation of the economy in addition to balanced growth and the rising wellbeing of the nation. In his words, to increase export is the only safe option for accomplishing the goals. Increasing the export potential in 2014 should become a number one task, stressed Nikolai Snopkov. The achievement of the 108.6% export growth rate is the starting point for reaching the key objectives, believes the Minister.

In his words, Belarusian products often lag behind competition in technical and quality parameters. With this in mind the necessary legal base and the institutional foundation for the operation of a system to support export have been created in Belarus. The export promotion system matches the main approaches used internationally.

In 2014 the state budget will allocate over Br1.3 trillion to support exporters. The measure will encourage the sale of Belarus-made products abroad. However, according to the Economy Minister, the support should be rendered only after a thorough analysis of the financial performance of exporters. In particular, support should be rendered to companies, which are exploring new markets or are raising the volume of export considerably, to companies, which financial status disallows increasing the geography and the volume of export on their own in the short term.

According to the Economy Minister, close attention should be paid to ways to raise the profitability of enterprises this year. Therefore, their effectiveness enhancement efforts should be focused on the costs involved in manufacturing their products, on optimizing workforce numbers, and on introducing a system to manage resources.

Nikolai Snopkov mentioned other things that will help develop the Belarus economy. In particular, he reminded about the need to step up efforts to attract direct foreign investments and encourage small and medium business.