MINSK, 15 February (BelTA) – In January 2019 Belarus' GDP grew by 0.7%, which is above the government's quarterly forecast, BelTA learned from Belarusian Economy Minister Dmitry Krutoi before the session of the ministry's board.
The official said: “The economy started the year 2019 exceedingly well. According to the latest data, our GDP grew by 0.7%, which is even slightly above the quarterly estimates of the government. Although considering the high baseline of Q1 2018 many economists went as far as predicting technical recession. Nevertheless, virtually all the branches of the economy demonstrated growth in January 2019. We definitely see it as a positive thing.”
Wholesale trade is an industry with negative growth. The state of affairs is attributed to the situation concerning dark oil products, which is a matter of negotiations with Russia, specified the economy minister. Agriculture (due to pig farming) was partially a limiting factor.
The forecast, which says Belarus' GDP will grow by 4% in 2019, still stands. “It has not been revised in view of the positive results of January 2019,” added Dmitry Krutoi.
Speaking about drivers of Belarusian economy growth in 2019, the economy minister emphasized internal reserves. “We are talking about investments, our national projects, the development of small and medium business,” he explained. Dmitry Krutoi pointed out that unprecedented documents have been passed recently to liberalize business operation terms. It has already resulted in the share of tax proceeds from small and medium business going as high as 36% of the total.
