MINSK, 18 May (BelTA) – The Belarusian Economy Ministry believes it would be a good idea to form the next year's state budget bearing in mind a conservative scenario of social and economic development, BelTA learned from Belarusian Deputy Economy Minister Alexander Chervyakov during the seminar held in the lower chamber of the Belarusian parliament on 18 May to discuss the organization of budget processes in Belarus.
According to the source, three development scenarios are suggested for the year 2018: a basic one, a target-oriented one, and a conservative one. The latter takes into account the risks that may negatively affect the development of Belarus' main trade partners and greatly deteriorate the price situation on foreign markets. “We suggest using this scenario to form the budget,” noted Alexander Chervyakov.
The official explained that the basic scenario expects the global oil market to stabilize. It also takes into account Belarus-Russia agreements and the gradually rising demand for Belarusian products on export markets. The target-based scenario expects Belarus to achieve the main goals of the five-year development program by taking the planned economic policy measures, which are designed to create incentives for faster economic growth.
Alexander Chervyakov underlined that it is important to choose the right scenario for forming the budget because if evaluations of external and internal factors turn out to be excessively optimistic, the budget will have to be adjusted and resources for unexpected expenses have to be set aside. “Thus, by choosing the conservative scenario, we can add ruggedness to the budget. Any improvements will be beneficial and will result in higher revenues. Those are much more preferable than sequestering the budget down the road,” explained the deputy economy minister.
