MINSK, 23 August (BelTA) – Belarus is about to reach an understanding with Russian partners in matters concerning the pricing of natural gas and oil deliveries, BelTA learned from Prime Minister of Belarus Andrei Kobyakov on 23 August.
“Belarus' GDP dropped by 0.2% in July. But it happened due to the specific situation and specific circumstances relating to limited oil supplies to the oil refineries — about 700,000 tonnes. As a result, the Belneftekhim concern decreased industrial output and wholesale trade in the relevant oil products decreased as well,” noted Andrei Kobyakov.
“But we hope it is a temporary phenomenon. Negotiations are underway. We are quite close to reaching an understanding with Russian partners on the level of natural gas prices and on oil deliveries to Belarus,” added the Prime Minister.
Andrei Kobyakov also said that in H1 2016 Belarus' GDP growth rate totaled 97.5% as against the same period of last year. At the same time the figure was 95.6% in January 2016. “Which means we improved the GDP figure by 1.9 percentage points within six months,” stated Andrei Kobyakov.