Government, National Bank and regional authorities report to President

2 марта 2018

By Andrei Laptenok: Today the President of Belarus has listened to the reports of the government, the National Bank and regional authorities in the Council of Ministers.

The Head of State was informed about the social and economic development of the country over the past year. As noted by Prime Minister Andrei Kobyakov, there is stability in the currency and financial markets. However, 2 out of 13 indicators of social and economic development have not been met: the terms of growth in real incomes of the population and the volume of construction works. Alexander Lukashenko reminds once again of his instruction to reach an average salary in the amount of a thousand rubles. During the year, this figure must be surpassed by raising wages to state employees.

Alexander Lukashenko criticized the government for insufficient efforts to create high-performance jobs. At the same time there is interregional stratification within the country, the standard of living in the capital and regions is polar. The rise in prices remains the main problem for the population. Hence the President's demand for the National Bank is to reduce inflationary expectations.

Participation of the banking system in the development of the economy, the growth of gold and foreign exchange reserves was discussed today. In 2017, the reserves increased by almost $ 2.5 billion, partially including the funds raised for payments on currency obligations in the current year.

One of the tasks discussed at today's meeting is dealing with the rise in prices for dairy products. Monitoring of the situation and proposals for an effective mechanism for influencing the prices of goods of daily demand are expected from the Ministry of Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade.

The global challenges for this year are GDP growth by 3.5%, an increase in exports of goods and services by $ 2 billion. It is planned to attract 23 billion rubles of investments. Particular attention is paid to implementation of the 50 largest projects.

A trend towards dedollarization is observed in the economy. In 2017 the Belarusians became a net seller of foreign currency. The ruble deposits grew, the refinancing rate fell. However, this is not enough for the government to receive the credit of trust from the population.

The GDP has grown, but not even a one-year decline in 2016 has been compensated. The national debt is growing faster than the economy. The real scourge is the huge debt overburden of Belarusian enterprises.

The priority of the government is to raise the standard of living of citizens, but this should also be done through more effective work of the state apparatus.

According to the Prime Minister, the economy is developing in accordance with the main parameters of the program for 2016-2020.

The Prime Minister touches upon the problem of shortage of personnel in construction, due to which the construction of a number of important objects is stagnating.

The Head of State concludes, there is no concerted action in the authorities. The President calls for eliminating disunity.

The aggravation of protectionism, the violation of international trade rules, the struggle for access to technology, resources and markets are a new reality and the conditions in which we all have to live.

The task of the next five-year plan is to reach the GDP target of 100 billion US dollars. Only this will allow having a salary of one thousand dollars.

The requirements for investment projects will be tightened. The instruction of the President to the Ministry of Economy is to develop new simple but stringent requirements for investment projects with budgetary participation and a guarantee of the state.

The problem of commodity and geographical diversification has not been solved. None of our problems within the Eurasian Economic Union has been lifted. But the authorities are open to any new export initiatives.

It is important to achieve low inflation not only on paper, but also in life. And finally, the Head of State gives green light to investment without bureaucracy.

The economy of Belarus is developing, which is recognized not only by our allies. The progress was noticed by the largest rating agencies. At the beginning of this year, Belarus received an improvement in its credit rating from rating agencies and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.