MINSK, 26 January (BelTA) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) expects Belarus' GDP to grow by 1% in 2017, BelTA learned from EBRD Chief Economist Sergei Guriev on 26 January.
The EBRD Chief Economist said: “Our forecast is more optimistic than forecasts of our international organizations. We believe that Belarus' GDP will grow by 1% in 2017. The recession is ending and growth is about to begin but this growth will be very slow.”
Speaking about the EBRD's forecasts for the region, Sergei Guriev explained that the Belarusian economy heavily depends on the Russian one. “We expect Russia's GDP to grow by 1.2% this year. The forecast relies on oil prices as high as $50-55 per barrel. But on the whole, if oil prices stay constant, we don't expect a rapid growth in Russia because as far as reforms are concerned, the country sticks to the status quo,” he stressed.
The EBRD Chief Economist also pointed out that the bank is pleased with the beginning of pension reforms in Belarus and the phasing-out of cross-subsidies in the utilities system.
Apart from that, Sergei Guriev said that the bank supports any integration associations, including the Eurasian Economic Union. “But for now it seems to us that the potential of this integration initiative is far from full realization. It seems to me it has yet to go a long way. There are indeed not many tangible investment projects in the Eurasian Economic Union,” he concluded.
