The Belarusian gross domestic product may go up by 12.1-15% by 2020, Belarus’ Economy Minister Vladimir Zinovsky said.
“We have taken up a recovery path. This is not the growth that can be satisfactory for us, but we are gradually moving towards it. Having made a solid foundation in 2017, we are setting more ambitious goals for 2018. In 2018 GDP is projected at 103.4%, lightly higher than the world’s trends. We should, as we projected, reach an increase of 12.1-15% by 2020,” said Vladimir Zinovsky.
According to the minister, a number of parameters demonstrate the country’s gradual economic recovery. This is a balanced growth of wages, the labor productivity growth surpassing the growth of salaries, and a reducing refinancing rate. Momentum is registered in all the economic sectors, except for construction.
“Industry showed a 6.1% increase, mechanical engineering – 13%. Agriculture is gathering momentum posting a 1.7% increase, but we expect it to rise by at least 2.2% by the end of the year,” the minister said.
Vladimir Zinovsky also spoke about some problematic issues, including construction. This sector demonstrates 93.7% as against the goal of 98%.
The economy minister also touched upon the issue of the growth of the average salary to Br1,000.
“We should understand that the average wage of Br1,000 is set in the country in general, not in all its regions. There are economic sectors such as, for example, agriculture or social sphere, where we cannot reach Br1,000 in an instant. Although, under all the equal conditions, business, for example, should provide an average salary of Br1.300-1.500,” he said.
Vladimir Zinovsky stated that in some cases wages might exceed labor productivity.
“But we understand that we should invest our earnings in production and get profit to make wages grow further,” the minister said. (BelTA/Business World Magazine)