MINSK, 22 April (BelTA) - The Belarusian government is to revise the country's inflation forecast for 2022, First Deputy Prime Minister Nikolai Snopkov told the media after the meeting hosted by Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko to hear out a report on the country's current fiscal policy on 22 April, BelTA has learned.
According to Nikolai Snopkov, the announced figures on inflation will not change the situation in the economy as a whole. “What figures to voice - 9%, 12%, 15%? It doesn't depend on the internal situation, because if you have noticed, the government is actively restraining the internal situation, including consumer prices. Inflation, above all consumer, food inflation, is higher in countries that are closer to us. All the inflation we have now is external.” Among the external factors affecting the growth of consumer prices, Nikolai Snopkov named the rise in world food prices and fluctuations of the Russian ruble.
According to the main monetary policy guidelines approved in December 2021, the inflation rate in Belarus for 2022 was projected at 6%. In January and February 2022, the consumer price index for goods and services increased by 1.5% and 1.6%, respectively. In March, the growth was 6.1%.
Annual inflation in the European Union has reached its historical record. According to Eurostat, annual inflation in the Eurozone was 6.2% in February 2022, up from 5.6% in January. In February the biggest contribution to the annual inflation rate in the Eurozone was made by rising prices for energy, services, food, alcohol and tobacco.
The highest annual inflation rates were recorded in Lithuania (14%), Estonia (11.6%), the Czech Republic (10%) and Belgium (9.5%). The lowest annual inflation rates in February were registered in France (4.2%), Portugal, Finland and Sweden (4.4% each).
