MOGILEV, 15 July (BelTA) – Despite sanctions Mogilev Oblast's export to the European Union rose by 1.7 times in January-May 2021 to $221 million, BelTA learned from Deputy Chairman of the Mogilev Oblast Executive Committee Ruslan Strakhar during the committee's session held on 15 July to review performance in H1 2021.
The official said: “Despite all the hype because of the sanctions Mogilev Oblast's export has been on the rise this year – over 130%. Apart from that, export to the European Union rose by 1.7 times in January-May to $221 million. We increased export to more than 20 European Union countries. Apart from that, in conditions of geopolitical and geoeconomic competition our region has managed to secure the largest volume of export ($966 million) in the last five years and a foreign trade surplus.”
Chairman of the Mogilev Oblast Executive Committee Leonid Zayats drew attention to how the enterprises affected by sanctions of the European Union work. “The matter has been reviewed with all the industrial enterprises in the region. The situation is stable and controllable so far. Individual enterprises are having difficulties with procuring components and materials from European countries. Work on getting components from the Russian Federation and other countries is in progress,” Ruslan Strakhar said. “Enterprises are shifting their focus onto other markets for buying raw materials and for export. We continue increasing export to countries other than the European Union, too. For instance, this year we've doubled shipments to China. This is why export diversification is a number one task now.”
Ruslan Strakhar went on saying that in H1 2021 Mogilev Oblast hit three out of the four performance targets set by the Council of Ministers. The gross regional product totaled 101.7% while the target was 100%. The nominal accrued average monthly salary totaled 114.2% in January-May while the target was 108.1%. The aggregate revenues of Mogilev Oblast's consolidated budget totaled 113.6% in January-June 2021 while the target was 106.3%.
This year the Mogilev Oblast economy continues growing. “It is due to the stable work of the industrial complex, which demonstrated a growth rate of 106.6% in H1 2021. We also see growth in trade. I should note that public catering surpassed pre-COVID levels in H1 2021,” Ruslan Strakhar noted. “We also see improvements in other areas. Civil engineering industry demonstrates growth every month after a slowdown in early 2021. As for the development of the agribusiness complex, we also see progressive movement upward. All the efforts are focused on mobilizing in order to finish the harvesting campaign within an optimal timeframe. Apart from that, the financial state of real sector enterprises is getting better. We see reserves for growth and shortcomings in individual organizations and individual industries. This is why all these matters are being discussed at the session of the Mogilev Oblast Executive Committee today in order to secure development in the future and most importantly secure growing living standards of our citizens thanks to economic growth. Modern conditions, including climatic and foreign policy ones, require us to accomplish complicated tasks. We will need maximum concentration, insistence on high personnel performance and everyone's responsibility for doing their jobs,” Ruslan Strakhar summed it up.
