Belarus is mitigating the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as much as possible without resorting to populist measures, political scientist, assistant professor of the political science chair at Belarusian State Economic University Aleksei Belyaev said in a video interview with the National Press Center on 29 May, BelTA has learned.
The position of the Belarusian authorities in the context of the aggravating pandemic-induced crisis is quite balanced and restrained, Aleksei Belyaev said. “Belarus has done the utmost to soften economic problems without playing populist games, without following the calls to impose quarantine measures,” said Aleksei Belyaev. As a result, a number of the country's economic indicators look much better than those of its neighbors.
First of all, Belarus has relied on its own manufacturing industry as the global economic activity declined and entire industries and states fell out of international trade, the expert added. As an example, he cited Belarus' export of agricultural products which rose significantly in Q1.