Business news

MINSK, 22 June (BelTA) – Foreign investment in the Belarusian economy has soared 2.5 times in the past five years, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said at the 5^th Belarusian People’s Congress on 22 June, BelTA has learned.

“The increased activity of foreign investors testifies to the world’s interest in the Belarusian economy. Over the last five years the volume of foreign investment in the economy has risen 2.5 times. We have attracted almost $11 billion in FDI,” the President stressed.

Belarus has already joined the group of middle income countries in per capita GDP. This showing went up from $5,200 in 1990 to $16,500 in 2010 and reached almost $18,000 in 2015.

“There are also positive changes in the economic sector. The basic sectors of the national economy were overhauled in 2020-2015. The country is completing technical modernization of its nine biggest woodworking plants, has introduced the technological lines to produce cement by dry method, and launched the production of NPK fertilizers,” the head of state noted.

Mass production of cars has been launched in the country. Belarus has manufactured the world’s biggest mine truck with the cargo capacity of 450 tonnes. “We get orders for its manufacturing from all over the world. We also built a plant to produce modern electrical trains. New trains have already been put into passenger service across Belarus. We have also started the construction of the Belarusian nuclear power plant,” Alexander Lukashenko said.

The President stressed that modernization helped renew technologies and considerably reduce production costs. The material intensity in industry was reduced by nearly 8%. More than 1,000 dairies, 55 pig-breeding farms, 456 grain drying plants and over 500 poultry farms were built or upgraded in 2010-2015. “All new agricultural equipment was made in Belarus. The main technological processes in the agricultural production sector have been automated which helped improve the labor productivity by almost 1.5 times in 2010-2015,” Alexander Lukashenko said.