MINSK, 7 October (BelTA) – In January-August 2021 Belarus' GDP rose by 3% while the foreign trade surplus exceeded $2 billion and beat the record of the year 2013. First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Nikolai Snopkov made the statement during the government conference held by the head of state to discuss the counteraction of Western sanctions, BelTA has learned.
Nikolai Snopkov said: “On the whole, the economy has been growing on a really quality and balanced foundation this year.”
In his words, the GDP growth rate totaled 103% in January-August. No GDP decline is projected, the official noted.
Belarus' merchandise export rose by 36%. Foreign currency earnings of Belarusian enterprises totaled $6.5 billion. Foreign trade surplus exceeded $2 billion. It has not been as high since 2013. “There is a considerable demand primarily for trucks, cars, tractors, furniture, and food,” Nikolai Snopkov added.
After the government conference First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Nikolai Snopkov talked to reporters. He noted that high demand on foreign markets had affected the growth of the Belarusian economy. The government expects the situation to continue at least in 2022.
The official said: “Certainly, sanctions are having an effect. But a wise Chinese proverb says that any crisis is an opportunity. What are our opportunities? We differently look at the situation. We differently evaluate business processes, export strategies, the ability of enterprises to buy components. In the end we differently evaluate performance of enterprises. All of these factors create a slightly different economic atmosphere, which is geared towards getting profits, export earnings, and respectively salaries instead of the process and gross output figures. This is why the shock of the sanctions has allowed us to reformat our attitude.”
Nikolai Snopkov stressed that the sanctions had definitely affected the work of enterprises but professionalism of executives of all levels had allowed flexibly and promptly recover from the situation.
