Belarus’ GDP to be down by less than 1%; inflation at 6-7% in 2020 – Golovchenko
<p> MINSK, Dec 28 - PrimePress Belarus’ gross domestic product (GDP) will shrink by less than 1% against. Inflation will range from 6% to 7%, says Prime Minister of Belarus Roman Golovchenko. </p> <p> </p> <p> “According to preliminary estimates, GDP will be over 99% to compare with 2019, he said on December 27, 2020 on Belarus-1 TV channel. </p> <p> </p> <p> He said this is largely due to the coronavirus pandemic and the post-election political turbulence that, in many respects, was caused purposefully to destabilize the national economy. </p> <p> </p> <p> The authorities managed to keep the workforce under control, he said. “In fact, I cannot name a single enterprise that was driven into a shutdown during the post-election turmoil. Everything that some media described as “mass strikes” was local events blown out of proportion,” he said. </p> <p> </p> <p> Golovchenko assumed that the 5% inflation target would hardly be achieved. “We will, probably, achieve that this year. The results will be summed up later, yet it looks so far that inflation will be in the range of 6-7%. This is more of an achievement, rather than underperformance, given the circumstances,” he said. </p> <p> </p> <p> The Economy Ministry of Belarus said earlier that GDP would likely be down 0.8% year on year in 2020, the official 2020 GDP growth forecast being 2.8%. Golovchenko said on November 2, 2020 that the government was going to maintain GDP growth rate in 2020 at 100% against 2019. In 2019, Belarus’ GDP grew by 1.2% year on year to Br131.952 billion ($51 billion at the exchange rate of the National Bank of Belarus), the official growth forecast standing at 4%. </p> <p> </p> <p> Inflation was at 0.7% in November 2020, 6.1% in January-November 2020. Prices rose in November 2020 by 6.6% yoy, by 5.4% yoy in January-November 2020. The official inflation forecast for 2020 was at or below 5%. However, the National Bank of Belarus assumed later that it might reach 6%. Golovchenko reported in November that inflation would possibly accelerate to 10% in 2020. End </p>
2020-12-29
Primepress
MINSK, Dec 28 - PrimePress Belarus’ gross domestic product (GDP) will shrink by less than 1% against. Inflation will range from 6% to 7%, says Prime Minister of Belarus Roman Golovchenko.
“According to preliminary estimates, GDP will be over 99% to compare with 2019, he said on December 27, 2020 on Belarus-1 TV channel.
He said this is largely due to the coronavirus pandemic and the post-election political turbulence that, in many respects, was caused purposefully to destabilize the national economy.
The authorities managed to keep the workforce under control, he said. “In fact, I cannot name a single enterprise that was driven into a shutdown during the post-election turmoil. Everything that some media described as “mass strikes” was local events blown out of proportion,” he said.
Golovchenko assumed that the 5% inflation target would hardly be achieved. “We will, probably, achieve that this year. The results will be summed up later, yet it looks so far that inflation will be in the range of 6-7%. This is more of an achievement, rather than underperformance, given the circumstances,” he said.
The Economy Ministry of Belarus said earlier that GDP would likely be down 0.8% year on year in 2020, the official 2020 GDP growth forecast being 2.8%. Golovchenko said on November 2, 2020 that the government was going to maintain GDP growth rate in 2020 at 100% against 2019. In 2019, Belarus’ GDP grew by 1.2% year on year to Br131.952 billion ($51 billion at the exchange rate of the National Bank of Belarus), the official growth forecast standing at 4%.
Inflation was at 0.7% in November 2020, 6.1% in January-November 2020. Prices rose in November 2020 by 6.6% yoy, by 5.4% yoy in January-November 2020. The official inflation forecast for 2020 was at or below 5%. However, the National Bank of Belarus assumed later that it might reach 6%. Golovchenko reported in November that inflation would possibly accelerate to 10% in 2020. End