Measures to counter western sanctions may cost Belarus up to 3% of GDP – minister
<p> MINSK, Jun 21 - PrimePress. Belarus’ costs to implement the counter-sanction measures, in particular, to redirect export flows to new markets, may amount to up to 3% of gross domestic product (GDP) at a time, says Minister of Economy Alexander Chervyakov. </p> <p> </p> <p> In his words, the government is preparing a response to the expected sanctions by the Western countries against a number of commodity items and groups of Belarusian exports, in particular, the redirection of exports to new markets. “These costs can make up to 3% of GDP at one time. This pertains to those commodity items and groups against which sanctions have been imposed,” BelTA reports citing the minister as saying. </p> <p> </p> <p> “On the one hand, it is a challenge, but on the other hand - an opportunity for our economy to look at new markets and new partners from a different angle. We are quite actively working in this direction. Our plan, and there is a lot of talking about it now, is aimed at developing new markets. This is a turning to Asia,” he said. </p> <p> </p> <p> In his words, Belarus’ economy has the necessary potential. “The growth in January-May 2021 reached 3.1% and made up for the decline in 2020. In 2019, a fairly successful year, we posted an increase of 1.2%,” the minister said. </p> <p> </p> <p> Nevertheless, Belarus still hopes for pragmatism from its Western partners and believes that they ‘would press the stop button and suspend all the actions against our country', said Chervyakov. </p> <p> </p> <p> Prime Minister of Belarus Roman Golovchenko said in a TV interview on June 5 that the economic damage of Belarus from the Western sanctions may amount to no more than 2.9% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), and the government is ready to compensate for this loss at the expense of “other sources”. </p> <p> </p> <p> As previously reported, after the August 2020 presidential elections in Belarus, a political crisis began in the country. The authorities responded to the protests of citizens who disagreed with the election results with harsh repression and persecution. Western countries did not recognize the August 2020 presidential election as free and democratic, and Alexander Lukashenko as the elected president. The European Union (EU), Great Britain, the USA and Canada imposed political and economic sanctions against a number of Belarusian officials and companies loyal to the current government. </p> <p> </p> <p> Since October 2020, the EU has already introduced three packages of sanctions against the Belarusian authorities, and after the Ryanair incident in Minsk a fourth package is in the pipeline. The fourth package of sanctions was approved at the June 21 meeting of the Council of the Foreign Affairs Ministries of EU member states. End </p>
2021-06-22
Primepress
Measures to counter western sanctions may cost Belarus up to 3% of GDP – minister
MINSK, Jun 21 - PrimePress. Belarus’ costs to implement the counter-sanction measures, in particular, to redirect export flows to new markets, may amount to up to 3% of gross domestic product (GDP) at a time, says Minister of Economy Alexander Chervyakov.
In his words, the government is preparing a response to the expected sanctions by the Western countries against a number of commodity items and groups of Belarusian exports, in particular, the redirection of exports to new markets. “These costs can make up to 3% of GDP at one time. This pertains to those commodity items and groups against which sanctions have been imposed,” BelTA reports citing the minister as saying.
“On the one hand, it is a challenge, but on the other hand - an opportunity for our economy to look at new markets and new partners from a different angle. We are quite actively working in this direction. Our plan, and there is a lot of talking about it now, is aimed at developing new markets. This is a turning to Asia,” he said.
In his words, Belarus’ economy has the necessary potential. “The growth in January-May 2021 reached 3.1% and made up for the decline in 2020. In 2019, a fairly successful year, we posted an increase of 1.2%,” the minister said.
Nevertheless, Belarus still hopes for pragmatism from its Western partners and believes that they ‘would press the stop button and suspend all the actions against our country', said Chervyakov.
Prime Minister of Belarus Roman Golovchenko said in a TV interview on June 5 that the economic damage of Belarus from the Western sanctions may amount to no more than 2.9% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), and the government is ready to compensate for this loss at the expense of “other sources”.
As previously reported, after the August 2020 presidential elections in Belarus, a political crisis began in the country. The authorities responded to the protests of citizens who disagreed with the election results with harsh repression and persecution. Western countries did not recognize the August 2020 presidential election as free and democratic, and Alexander Lukashenko as the elected president. The European Union (EU), Great Britain, the USA and Canada imposed political and economic sanctions against a number of Belarusian officials and companies loyal to the current government.
Since October 2020, the EU has already introduced three packages of sanctions against the Belarusian authorities, and after the Ryanair incident in Minsk a fourth package is in the pipeline. The fourth package of sanctions was approved at the June 21 meeting of the Council of the Foreign Affairs Ministries of EU member states. End