MINSK, 31 May (BelTA) – The government persistently makes decisions in order to compensate for the pressure of sanctions or negate it. Belarusian Deputy Economy Minister Dmitry Yaroshevich made the statement on the air of the TV channel Mir, BelTA has learned.
The ministry's press service quoted Dmitry Yaroshevich as saying: “External pressure grew extraordinarily stronger in the first quarter of the year. The government started receiving various proposals, requests from municipal authorities, major Belarusian businesses, small companies, entrepreneur associations, and the scientific community. We've aggregated this information and worked out a common vision of how these issues should be addressed. The comprehensive plan on supporting the economy was brought about like that.”
The comprehensive plan consists of a number of blocks. “First of all, the restrictions unfriendly countries have enforced against us primarily focus on trade and transactions. Secondly, Belarus has an extremely open economy: the trade turnover has always exceeded the GDP. This is why export matters are extremely important for us,” the deputy economy minister noted.
Logistics represents another block of the plan. “The thing is that demand for our products has traditionally been high and remains high. Consumers are still eager to buy Belarusian goods. But restrictions on access to ports interfere with that. We are not ready to so promptly redirect logistics for now. But we are working towards it. It is important that sales of the main traditional exports have not stopped. Those are mechanical engineering products, electronics, food, and many other things,” Dmitry Yaroshevich noted.
Import substitution is the next block. “While the previous blocks may seem important, import substitution is a matter of strategic importance. We see ways to enhance the stability of our economy here. It is necessary to get things started here as fast as possible,” the official is convinced.
