Business news

3 Nov 2023

Overchuk: Western sanctions were aimed to stop Belarus’ economy, yet it is showing growth

Alexey Overchuk. An archive photo

SAMARKAND, 3 November (BelTA) - Western sanctions were supposed to stop the economy of Belarus, but it is showing growth in 2023, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk said as he spoke at the 16th Verona Eurasian Economic Forum in Samarkand, BelTA has learned.

“We are especially pleased, and it is worth mentioning that the countries that maintain allied relations with Russia are growing together with us. Thus, GDP growth in the EAEU five countries in 2022 amounted to: 12.6% in Armenia, 3.2% in Kazakhstan, 7% in Kyrgyzstan. Uzbekistan is also showing a good growth. Even in Belarus, which, like us, is under sanctions, the economic decline last year (despite the fact that the economy was supposed to stop completely) amounted to only 4.7%. In 2023, the Belarusian economy has turned to a steady growth,” Alexey Overchuk said.

He also compared inflation rates in the EAEU countries and the European Union. “Such an important indicator as inflation cannot but attract attention. If in 2022 the inflation rate of the EAEU five was 12.9%, in the European Union it was 19.3%. Moreover, if we take the post-Soviet countries, such as Moldova, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, it ranged from 30% to 38% there,” the Russian deputy prime minister said.

The event, which traditionally gathers politicians, experts, diplomats, heads of major companies and journalists from the West and the East, has been held in Verona, Italy, for 14 years, even at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, geopolitical realities forced the organizers to change the traditional venue of the forum. Last year it was held for the first time not in Italy, but in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. This time Uzbekistan is hosting the forum.

The event is held under the motto “Economy of Trust and Business Diplomacy from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific” and will be an attempt to establish contacts between the East and the West. The forum is organized by the non-profit association Conoscere Eurasia (Italy) with the assistance of the Ministry of Investment, Industry and Trade of Uzbekistan.