MINSK, 22 January (BelTA) - Belarus’ companies have made significant investments in upgrade and renovation, Economy Minister Yuri Chebotar told the Belarus 1 TV channel when discussing the investment potential of the Belarusian economy, BelTA has learned.
“In line with the forecast, our GDP growth target was 3.8%, we did slightly better than that and posted a growth of 3.9%. Many sectors contributed to this, but the growth came mostly on the back of the manufacturing industry that drives and powers the development of other industries. The industrial growth of 7.7% was achieved to a large extent not due to goods that rose in prices, but due to mechanical engineering that weaves through other industries and produces its own goods. The construction sector expanded by 11%. We have launched a program and have significantly increased the construction of rented housing. Despite some crop failures last year, agriculture was pulled into the positive zone by livestock production,” Yuri Chebotar said.
The minister pointed out that last year saw a record high output and export across many commodities. “In addition to that, we have to deal with current tasks, and we are aware of our responsibility to fulfill them. That is why the government has been passing respective plans for many years already. The current plan details the tasks for each ministry, group and oblast executive committee, including production targets and export targets for a particular market. If we have vision and, above all, understanding that we can grow even further, we can tap into new markets and new types of products. This is particularly relevant in the Year of Quality, as we need to increase the country's competitiveness,” the minister said.
Yuri Chebotar also focused on investment potential, which has always been a priority for the domestic economy. “In 2023 we set an ambitious growth target for investments - almost 15%. This encompasses housing, infrastructure and commercial projects that in many ways determine the economic potential of the real sector of the economy. This sector grew by more than 30%. This means that our companies have indeed put in a lot of effort in modernization and renovation. The list of such projects was defined last year and expanded this year. The One District - One Project initiative has really taken off: we started with 120 projects and ended the year with 156, and this year we already have 190 projects. This means that some districts are running two projects,” he said.
The minister stated that almost 80 of the initiatives that are being implemented are import-substitution projects, and there are also integration projects with the Russian Federation.
