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Economy
17 May 2016, 17:50

Belarus economy getting back on growth track

MINSK, 17 May (BelTA) – The Belarus economy is getting back to a growth trajectory, BelTA learned from Prime Minister of Belarus Andrei Kobyakov on 17 May. Andrei Kobyakov took part in the session of the Council of Ministers that focused on results of Belarus' social and economic development in Q1 2016.

According to the latest data from the National Statistics Committee of Belarus, Belarus' GDP growth rate stood at 97% in January-April 2016. “In the four months we gained 0.6 percentage points,” said Andrei Kobyakov. “So, we are looking at incremental increase: 95.7% in January, 96% in January-February, 96.4% in January-March, and 97% in January-April. You can clearly see that the economy is getting back on growth track,” noted the Prime Minister.

In his words, the government and the central bank are taking macroeconomic measures to balance the economy in foreign economic conditions that drastically differ from those that existed when the social and economic development forecast for 2016 was put together. Andrei Kobyakov reminded that back then oil price was projected at $50 per barrel while in Q1 2016 oil cost $32 per barrel. The Russian ruble was supposed to be traded at RUB63 per U.S. dollar while in Q1 2016 the exchange rate was RUB74.6 per $1. “The economy of Russia, which is Belarus' key trade partner, was supposed to stay at 100%, but instead it dropped to 98.8%. We expected that the annual exchange rate of the Belarusian ruble to the U.S. dollar will stay at Br18,689 but, as you know, in Q1 2016 the exchange rate of the Belarusian ruble against the U.S. dollar averaged Br20,755,” stated Andrei Kobyakov.

The Prime Minister also noted that the macroeconomic balancing measures could not but affect the economic growth rate, primarily in the real sector. “As far as GDP is concerned, in the first quarter of the year we were 2.5 percentage points behind the quarterly target. Nevertheless, the production sector was above projections yet below the year 2015. In Q1 2016 we had 95.7% while the forecast was 95%. By the way, in January-April the industrial output totaled 97.5%,” said the Prime Minister.

Andrei Kobyakov attributed two thirds of the failure to hit the projections in Q1 2016 to the lower gross added value in the civil engineering sector. “Another third was caused by the resultant slowdown of cargo transportation and wholesale trade. Only agriculture demonstrated an increase in gross added value — 102%,” noted the Belarusian head of government.

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