MINSK, 21 July (BelTA) – The government expects Belarus’ GDP to grow by 3.5% in 2021, BelTA learned from Prime Minister of Belarus Roman Golovchenko at a session of the Council of Ministers’ Presidium on 21 July.
Roman Golovchenko noted: “The suggested economic growth rate target of 103.5% [in 2021] while this year’s forecast stands at 100% [zero growth] is quite a challenge. There are plans to secure more than half of the growth – 1.9 percentage points – by means of external demand. A clear-cut and well-considered export strategy is needed in order to hit the target.”
This is why the prime minister instructed the Economy Ministry to be creative about forming the next year’s list of product balances and add competitive products to the list.
Speaking about the draft social and economic development forecast for 2021 as a whole, Roman Golovchenko pointed out that the document had become more comprehensive and concise. The prime minister described it as aggressive and mobilizing.
“The future of the country, the establishment and growth of new enterprises, industry branches, a new economy in the end – this new basis should be formed in the regions, oblast capitals, small populated localities,” the head of government said.
In his words, serious work will have to be done to bolster the effectiveness of management of the Belarusian economy. “The Economy Ministry has done some groundwork to change the evaluation of effectiveness of performance of executives of all levels and transition towards indicative forecasting. It is a very serious change that requires comprehensive evaluation,” Roman Golovchenko believes.