MINSK, 21 February (BelTA) - The Belarusian economy demonstrated its sustainability in 2023 despite all the challenges and difficulties, Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko said at a meeting of the Council of Ministers to discuss the country’s social and economic development in 2023, BelTA has learned.
“Macroeconomic balance was preserved. The foreign trade surplus reached $481 million. Compared to 2022, the balance decreased, but there were objective reasons for this. Two of them are the key ones – a decline in export prices by more than 15% for a wide range of goods and the growth of investment imports by 1.6 times, given the implementation of a significant number of investment projects in the country,” Roman Golovchenko said.
According to him, the economy attracted $1.6 billion of net foreign direct investment. “The growth made up 7.3% compared to 2022, and 75% of net FDI was invested in the real sector,” the prime minister added.
“Inflation was within the forecast parameters. Consumer price growth in annual terms amounted to 105.8% with a forecast of no more than 107-108%. This is one of the lowest inflation rates among the EAEU member countries,” the head of government said.
The growth rate of gross domestic product amounted to 103.9% with the target of 103.8%. Robust industrial production was provided by the Industry Ministry (112.6%), Agriculture and Food Ministry (105.9%), Belneftekhim (108.9%) and Belgospishcheprom (106.5%).
“The general conclusion is that the economy in 2023, despite all the challenges and difficulties, worked well, showed its stability even under these conditions,” Roman Golovchenko stressed.
