Prime Minister of Belarus Roman Golovchenko summed up results of Belarus' social and economic development in Q1 2021 at a session of the Council of Ministers on 18 May.
Roman Golovchenko said: “Four out of the six most important targets of the social and economic development forecast have been hit. Q1 2021 saw a foreign trade surplus of $828 million or 5.9% of the GDP. It is a record high figure of the last ten years.”
The official stressed that social tasks of the state are being fulfilled. Real disposable income of the population increased by 2.9%. Public sector salaries amounted to 82.8% of the country's average. Low-paid public sector workers received support as a high priority: their salaries rose by an average of 9% as of January. Persistent steps are being taken to raise salaries of medical and pedagogical workers up to 150% and 110% of the average salary by 2025. At the same time the negative influence of interregional differences in salaries remains.
Incentive payments for healthcare and social security workers remain in place. Municipal budgets have spent a total of over Br425 million on these bonuses so far this year.
Roman Golovchenko added: “An increase in the unemployment rate was prevented thanks to the steady operation of the real sector. Unemployment totaled 4% in March according to the methodology of the International Labor Organization while the annual forecast is 4.2-4.4%.”
Two targets were not hit in Q1 2021 – the share of investments in the GDP and the index of consumer prices for socially important goods. The growth rate of fixed-capital investments totaled 87.9%, with the share in the GDP at 15.6% while the forecast was 21.3-21.4%. According to the Prime Minister, matters of investments and construction will be discussed at a separate session of the Council of Ministers' Presidium.
“Bank loans for housing construction are another issue. The Government is getting reports that there are some problems with commercial loans for citizens. I've instructed the Deputy Prime Minister, who oversees civil engineering, to get in touch with the banks and work out solutions in order to resolve the situation. This year's housing construction program must be fulfilled,” Roman Golovchenko stressed.
On 23 February 2021 the Government passed a resolution to introduce strict measures to regulate prices for staple products. As from 1 March monthly adjustments of prices for these goods cannot exceed 0.2% of the prices for these goods, which were recorded on the last day of the previous month. Roman Golovchenko stressed that the resolution had been a timely one and had prevented an unjustified increase in prices for everyday goods. At the same time the advisability of extending the validity period of this document is being debated.
Prime Minister of Belarus also noted, that the financial state of organizations of the real sector of the economy was improving.
Belarus' GDP growth rate totaled 102.5% in January-April. “The production sector demonstrated a good result – 111%,” Roman Golovchenko said. “Positive dynamics gradually takes shape in agriculture – 99.7%, 0.2 percentage points up from January-March. Wholesale trade increased by 6.1 percentage points while public catering gained 14.8 percentage points. These figures demonstrate gradual recovery from COVID-19 restrictions.”
In his words, the stock in storage is dwindling while industrial output is rising. The ratio of the stock in storage to the average monthly output totaled 59% as of 1 May, down from 61.2% in April.
“On the whole, the financial state of organizations of the real sector of the economy is improving. Net profit exceeded Br3.3 billion while we had a net loss of Br5 billion in Q1 2020. The sum of net losses of loss-making enterprises dropped by more than 10 times. The number of loss-making enterprises decreased as well,” the Prime Minister noted.
The situation on the foreign currency market in January-April 2021 is characterized by net supply on the part of commercial entities, with the surplus resulting from foreign currency sales and purchases close to $215 million. The Government fully honored its commitments in foreign currency. The country's gold and foreign exchange reserves increased by $338 million in April to $7.3 billion as of 1 May. The Belarusian ruble continues growing stronger, Roman Golovchenko added.
Roman Golovchenko said: “Four out of the six most important targets of the social and economic development forecast have been hit. Q1 2021 saw a foreign trade surplus of $828 million or 5.9% of the GDP. It is a record high figure of the last ten years.”
The official stressed that social tasks of the state are being fulfilled. Real disposable income of the population increased by 2.9%. Public sector salaries amounted to 82.8% of the country's average. Low-paid public sector workers received support as a high priority: their salaries rose by an average of 9% as of January. Persistent steps are being taken to raise salaries of medical and pedagogical workers up to 150% and 110% of the average salary by 2025. At the same time the negative influence of interregional differences in salaries remains.
Incentive payments for healthcare and social security workers remain in place. Municipal budgets have spent a total of over Br425 million on these bonuses so far this year.
Roman Golovchenko added: “An increase in the unemployment rate was prevented thanks to the steady operation of the real sector. Unemployment totaled 4% in March according to the methodology of the International Labor Organization while the annual forecast is 4.2-4.4%.”
Two targets were not hit in Q1 2021 – the share of investments in the GDP and the index of consumer prices for socially important goods. The growth rate of fixed-capital investments totaled 87.9%, with the share in the GDP at 15.6% while the forecast was 21.3-21.4%. According to the Prime Minister, matters of investments and construction will be discussed at a separate session of the Council of Ministers' Presidium.
“Bank loans for housing construction are another issue. The Government is getting reports that there are some problems with commercial loans for citizens. I've instructed the Deputy Prime Minister, who oversees civil engineering, to get in touch with the banks and work out solutions in order to resolve the situation. This year's housing construction program must be fulfilled,” Roman Golovchenko stressed.
On 23 February 2021 the Government passed a resolution to introduce strict measures to regulate prices for staple products. As from 1 March monthly adjustments of prices for these goods cannot exceed 0.2% of the prices for these goods, which were recorded on the last day of the previous month. Roman Golovchenko stressed that the resolution had been a timely one and had prevented an unjustified increase in prices for everyday goods. At the same time the advisability of extending the validity period of this document is being debated.
Prime Minister of Belarus also noted, that the financial state of organizations of the real sector of the economy was improving.
Belarus' GDP growth rate totaled 102.5% in January-April. “The production sector demonstrated a good result – 111%,” Roman Golovchenko said. “Positive dynamics gradually takes shape in agriculture – 99.7%, 0.2 percentage points up from January-March. Wholesale trade increased by 6.1 percentage points while public catering gained 14.8 percentage points. These figures demonstrate gradual recovery from COVID-19 restrictions.”
In his words, the stock in storage is dwindling while industrial output is rising. The ratio of the stock in storage to the average monthly output totaled 59% as of 1 May, down from 61.2% in April.
“On the whole, the financial state of organizations of the real sector of the economy is improving. Net profit exceeded Br3.3 billion while we had a net loss of Br5 billion in Q1 2020. The sum of net losses of loss-making enterprises dropped by more than 10 times. The number of loss-making enterprises decreased as well,” the Prime Minister noted.
The situation on the foreign currency market in January-April 2021 is characterized by net supply on the part of commercial entities, with the surplus resulting from foreign currency sales and purchases close to $215 million. The Government fully honored its commitments in foreign currency. The country's gold and foreign exchange reserves increased by $338 million in April to $7.3 billion as of 1 May. The Belarusian ruble continues growing stronger, Roman Golovchenko added.