MINSK, 1 October (BelTA) - The Belarusian government projects GDP to increase by 1.8% in 2021, Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko said at a meeting of the Presidium of the Council of Ministers held on 1 October to discuss the country's draft social and economic development forecast, the monetary policy guidelines and the national budget for 2021, BelTA has learned.
“According to estimates, next year's economic growth is projected at 1.8%, and we plan to keep the current year's GDP at the level of 2019. Many developed countries are planning to reach the pre-crisis level only in 2022,” said Roman Golovchenko.
The government began working on the package of economic documents for 2021 three months ago. According to the prime minister, over the past few weeks there have been significant changes in the assessment of the development of the world economy, Belarus' trade partner countries, prices for marketable goods, exchange rates, which remain high volatile.
Roman Golovchenko said that the key parameters of government efficiency to be set by the head of state should reflect not the process, but the goal, which is to improve the living standards and quality of life. “The task is to work on reducing costs, increasing productivity and other quality indicators,” he explained.
The head of government added that the forecast for 2021 should be as realistic as possible, take into account the resource capacity of the economy, and rely on accurate external and internal conditions.
According to the draft documents, economic efficiency and profit will be among the integrated performance indicators of the vertical power structure. Roman Golovchenko asked the Economy Ministry to voice its position in favor of the chosen approaches, including the proposed new system of indicators.
Photos by Oksana Manchuk
