Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 22 June (BelTA) – It is necessary to create more than 250,000 new jobs over the next five years, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said at the 5th Belarusian People’s Congress on 22 June, BelTA has learned.

“Enhancement of the economic system inevitably leads to slashing of excess workforce. To prevent sharp rise in unemployment, we should take preventive measures. This means we need to improve the work of employment services, develop retraining programs, and ease the conditions for the movement of labor between regions and industries. The main thing, the new jobs should be highly efficient. More than 250,000 such jobs should be created over the next five years,” Alexander Lukashenko said.

To achieve the goal, it is necessary to use effective financial mechanisms. “Our banks provide access to financial instruments, markets of the European Union member states and funds of international financial organizations. Today Belarusian banks can give around a billion U.S. dollars of Chinese loans to private businesses,” the head of state noted.

The development of small and medium-sized businesses is an important tool for promoting self-employment and tapping into the creative potential of the population. When people decide to run a business, they can provide for themselves and their families and employ two or three persons. There is a wide range of sectors in which business initiatives can be implemented. Everything depends on people’s desire and ability to start a business. Personal services, trade, and piecework production are the most attractive sectors in this respect.

“Encouragement of business initiative should become a driving force in the restoration of the economic growth and creation of new jobs,” the President stressed.

He added that the government should be guided in its work by the principles of equality of all forms of ownership, promotion of entrepreneurship and business activity, and elimination of obstacles hindering these processes. Alexander Lukashenko believes it is necessary to simplify the procedure for commercializing inefficiently used state-owned facilities, enhance opportunities for the rent of state-owned property, and improve tax administration.