Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 1 October (BelTA) – A positive trend has emerged in the Belarusian economy and it will last. Prime Minister of Belarus Andrei Kobyakov made the statement at the government conference held by the Belarus president on 1 October to discuss the current social, economic and political situation in the country, BelTA has learned.

The government is taking measures to ensure macroeconomic stability and preserve the necessary level of social protection of the population. “Today one can say that the measures we take have allowed us to avoid a further decrease in economic growth rate. Meanwhile, we’ve honored our foreign currency commitments in full and on time,” noted Andrei Kobyakov.

In January-August 2015 the GDP growth rate rose by 0.5% to 96.5% as against the same period of last year. “The economy is in the recovery growth stage. However, the drastic devaluation of the Russian ruble in August followed by the forced exchange rate of the Belarusian ruble against foreign currencies introduced some corrections but there are reasons to believe that the emerging positive trend will last,” said the Prime Minister.

For instance, in June-August the industrial output rose by 0.6% as against January-May. As a result, in January-August 2015 the growth rate totaled 92.9%. The stock in storage is dwindling. The stock in storage in comparison with the monthly output peaked at 87.5% as of 1 March. As of 1 September it dropped by 16.5% to 71% or nearly Br5 trillion. Andrei Kobyakov pointed out that the figure stood at 78% one year before that. However, there are no reasons for complacency since the new figure is still below the government’s 66% target.

On the whole, the economic situation in Belarus is believed to be complicated but manageable. Among other things the government has managed to stop unemployment growth and secure a positive balance of the trade in merchandise and services.