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Prime minister sums up Belarusian economy development results in Q1 2021
MINSK, 18 May (BelTA) – Prime Minister of Belarus Roman Golovchenko summed up results of Belarus’ social and economic development in Q1 2021 at a session of the Council of Ministers on 18 May, BelTA has learned.
Roman Golovchenko said: “Four out of the six most important targets of the social and economic development forecast have been hit. Q1 2021 saw a foreign trade surplus of $828 million or 5.9% of the GDP. It is a record high figure of the last ten years.”
The official stressed that social tasks of the state are being fulfilled. Real disposable income of the population increased by 2.9%. Public sector salaries amounted to 82.8% of the country’s average. Low-paid public sector workers received support as a high priority: their salaries rose by an average of 9% as of January. Persistent steps are being taken to raise salaries of medical and pedagogical workers up to 150% and 110% of the average salary by 2025. At the same time the negative influence of interregional differences in salaries remains.
Incentive payments for healthcare and social security workers remain in place. Municipal budgets have spent a total of over Br425 million on these bonuses so far this year.
Roman Golovchenko added: “An increase in the unemployment rate was prevented thanks to the steady operation of the real sector. Unemployment totaled 4% in March according to the methodology of the International Labor Organization while the annual forecast is 4.2-4.4%.”
Two targets were not hit in Q1 2021 – the share of investments in the GDP and the index of consumer prices for socially important goods. The growth rate of fixed-capital investments totaled 87.9%, with the share in the GDP at 15.6% while the forecast was 21.3-21.4%. According to the prime minister, matters of investments and construction will be discussed at a separate session of the Council of Ministers’ Presidium.
“Bank loans for housing construction are another issue. The government is getting reports that there are some problems with commercial loans for citizens. I’ve instructed the deputy prime minister, who oversees civil engineering, to get in touch with the banks and work out solutions in order to resolve the situation. This year’s housing construction program must be fulfilled,” Roman Golovchenko stressed.
On 23 February 2021 the government passed a resolution to introduce strict measures to regulate prices for staple products. As from 1 March monthly adjustments of prices for these goods cannot exceed 0.2% of the prices for these goods, which were recorded on the last day of the previous month. Roman Golovchenko stressed that the resolution had been a timely one and had prevented an unjustified increase in prices for everyday goods. At the same time the advisability of extending the validity period of this document is being debated.
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