Business news

MINSK, 15 September (BelTA) – More than 60 countries invest in the Belarusian economy, Deputy Economy Minister Pavel Utyupin told BelTA in an interview.

“At present more than 60 countries invest in Belarus. Russia and EU countries have been major direct investors in recent years. They accounted for 45-55% of foreign direct investments in various years. This trend was preserved in H1 2017. Russia accounted for 38.2% of FDI, EU countries for 53%, including the United Kingdom accounting for 31.6% and Cyprus for 8.5%,” Pavel Utyupin said.

At the same, he stressed that the government is doing its best to diversify investment flows. “Chinese investments were close to zero ten years ago, now China is one of the top ten investors. The volume of investments from Turkey has increased more than 100 times within a decade. This country is one of the top 20 investors to Belarus. Investments from Ukraine and Poland have been on the rise as well,” the deputy economy minister said.

“The inflow of foreign direct investments went up 4% over the same period of 2016. The majority of them, 83.1% or $4.1 billion, came from direct investors who accounted for at least 10% of shares and/or stock in the authorized fund of organizations, of them $883.5 million came on a net basis (this specified rate is included in the forecast),” Pavel Utyupin said.

In January-June 2017, Br9.7 billion worth of fixed capital investments was used. “Thus we reached the level of the previous year. The investment sector remains increasingly vibrant, there is positive dynamics in fixed capital investments in the country,” the deputy economy minister added.

Pavel Utyupin also said that the spending on cars, equipment, transport vehicles went up 16.2%. It accounted for 37.3% of the total volume of fixed capital investments. Investments are injected in the development of the real production sector, establishment of high-tech and modern production facilities.