NEWS
Belarus gold and foreign currency reserves close to international standards
 The amount of Belarusian gold and foreign currency reserves are close to international standards, Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Kobyakov said at the joint session of the Council of Republic and the House of Representatives of the National Assembly on April 25. “According to the international criteria of sufficiency of gold and foreign currency reserves (the amount of import over three months), we have reached about two thirds of this figure which means that we are close to the sufficiency criteria according to international standards”, the Deputy Prime Minister noted.
As of April 1, 2008, the amount of Belarusian gold and foreign currency reserves exceeded $5.5 billion.
According to him, the financial system of Belarus can be termed stable. The banking system copes with its tasks well, too. Over the three months, the increase in the exchange-value of the Belarusian ruble to the US dollar was equal to 0.2%, though the exchange value to other currencies is falling. Over January- March 2008, the amount of the credit provided by banks increased by 9.2% to reach Br33 trillion. Household bank deposits in national and foreign currency are also growing (up 9.3% to near Br11.5 trillion over Q1 2008).
Over January-March 2008, the Belarusian budget revenues were equal to Br10.5 trillion which attests to a high level of macroeconomic stability which is going to continue in a long term perspective, Andrei Kobyakov noted.
The role of the national investment agency of Belarus in investment policy needs to be enhanced, Vice-Premier of Belarus Andrei Kobyakov said at a joint session of the Council of the Republic and the House of Representatives of the national Assembly.
According to Andrei Kobyakov, the country needs to ensure effective wok with proposals from foreign investors. The government pays special attention to this sector of economy. According to the Vice-Premier, for that the national investment agency of the Economy Ministry needs to intensify its activity. This organisation is supposed to ensure interaction between government bodies of Belarus and investors, to provide full assistance to investors implementing projects in the country. “When arriving in the country an investor should open just one door – the door of this agency,” Andrei Kobyakov said.
In general the country needs to reach a new stage in the work with investors, the Vice-Premier believes. “The time has passed when we viewed foreign investors as a simple source of funds. We need investors as strategic partners in the sales and feedstock markets. Big foreign companies can become such partners,” the Vice-Premier said.
All these measures should be passed this year to reach the investment growth target (25%). In Q1 the country utilised Br5.8 trillion of capital investment (20% up over the same period last year). However, the government is concerned that many state bodies have failed to achieve the target (for example, Industry Ministry).
The industries of the non-material sphere made the biggest contribution in the growth of capital investment in January-March. The biggest volume of investment is utilised in the production sphere. National budget and companies play the key role among sources of investment. However, this is not enough, Andrei Kobyakov believes. It is crucially important to intensify the work on attracting foreign investors, the Vice-Premier said. The 2008 target is to attract $2.7 billion of foreign investment. In Q1 this year this index was around $300 million what is somewhat lower of the projections. The government expects the work with foreign investors will be intensified in Q2 as several legal documents stimulating investment came into force on April 1.
The official website of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus was recognized best at TIBO 2008 exhibition
 The official website of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus was recognized best in the nomination “State administration bodies” at TIBO 2008 exhibition.
TIBO Internet award is a professional award of the organisation committee of the expo, which is bestowed upon the best web resources in the Belarusian Internet sector. Since 2003 over 2,600 Belarusian web resources have taken part in the contest. This year’s contest gathered over 700 entrants.
The internet award mainly focuses on assisting the establishment and development of the Belarusian Internet sector, introduction of new information technologies and promotion of the best achievements of the Belarusian Internet sector.
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© 2005-2008 Staff of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus
No part of this information may be reproduced in any form without reference
Information support from the Republican Unitary Enterprise Belarusian News Agency
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