Belarus’ Economy Ministry expects 1.5-1.7% GDP contraction in Jan-May 2020
<p> MINSK, Jun 15 - PrimePress. The Ministry of Economy of Belarus expects a year-on-year decrease in gross domestic product (GDP) of Belarus by 1.5-1.7% in January-May 2020, Minister of Economy of Belarus Alexander Chervyakov said on May 12 during his visit to Bobruiskagromash OJSC (Mogilev Oblast), the ministry’s press office reports. </p> <p> </p> <p> Belarus’ GDP fell in January-April 2020 by 1.3% year on year to Br41.092 billion ($17.3 billion at the rate of the National Bank of Belarus), the official growth forecast for 2020 being 2.8%. </p> <p> </p> <p> “Indeed, a number of industrial enterprises focused on foreign markets are experiencing certain difficulties. However, the GDP decline in May will be insignificant. We expect that GDP will decrease by 0.2–0.3 percentage points yoy in January-May to 98.3–98.5%. The economic decline rate is slowing down. Our task is to reverse this trend towards recovery. According to our estimates, the recovery will begin in the third quarter,” Chervyakov said. </p> <p> </p> <p> He said earlier that the Ministry of Economy was working on measures aimed at restoring economic growth to the target set for 2020 as much as possible. Chervyakov believes the chance to resume growth is high, since the government chose not to shut enterprises down. Otherwise, “it would take years to recover.” He said that agriculture, construction, the IT industry and food processing showed growth, and oil products and potash fertilizers output began to grow. Chervyakov confirmed the plan to achieve $100 billion in yearly GDP by 2025. End </p>
2020-06-16
Primepress
MINSK, Jun 15 - PrimePress. The Ministry of Economy of Belarus expects a year-on-year decrease in gross domestic product (GDP) of Belarus by 1.5-1.7% in January-May 2020, Minister of Economy of Belarus Alexander Chervyakov said on May 12 during his visit to Bobruiskagromash OJSC (Mogilev Oblast), the ministry’s press office reports.
Belarus’ GDP fell in January-April 2020 by 1.3% year on year to Br41.092 billion ($17.3 billion at the rate of the National Bank of Belarus), the official growth forecast for 2020 being 2.8%.
“Indeed, a number of industrial enterprises focused on foreign markets are experiencing certain difficulties. However, the GDP decline in May will be insignificant. We expect that GDP will decrease by 0.2–0.3 percentage points yoy in January-May to 98.3–98.5%. The economic decline rate is slowing down. Our task is to reverse this trend towards recovery. According to our estimates, the recovery will begin in the third quarter,” Chervyakov said.
He said earlier that the Ministry of Economy was working on measures aimed at restoring economic growth to the target set for 2020 as much as possible. Chervyakov believes the chance to resume growth is high, since the government chose not to shut enterprises down. Otherwise, “it would take years to recover.” He said that agriculture, construction, the IT industry and food processing showed growth, and oil products and potash fertilizers output began to grow. Chervyakov confirmed the plan to achieve $100 billion in yearly GDP by 2025. End