Belarusian private sector to help work out proposals to bolster economy in pandemic conditions

The Belarusian economy minister met with heads of associations of legal persons and self-employed businessmen on 9 April. Chairman of the State Property Committee Andrei Gayev, Deputy Economy Minister Andrei Matusevich, Deputy Labor and Social Protection Minister Igor Starovoitov, Manager of the Social Protection Fund Natalia Pavlyuchenko, Director of the Entrepreneurship Department of the Economy Ministry Irina Babachenok, heads of associations of entrepreneurs and business unions took part in the meeting.

Participants of the meeting exchanged views on the state of affairs in the Belarusian economy from the point of view of the private sector. According to Economy Minister Aleksandr Chervyakov, representatives of the private sector are intimately familiar with the problems that need solutions. “Naturally the Economy Ministry, which is responsible for work and development of the private sector, is always ready to hear out your proposals. Today I would like to hear what is going on. I would like to hear about the most serious problems we are ready to further discuss and work out proposals on,” Aleksandr Chervyakov said before the meeting began.

Aleksandr Chervyakov remarked that in the near future the Council of Ministers is going to look into the problems that have already been outlined such as the size of rent, Social Protection Fund fees, and salaries. Additional proposals will be considered by the Council of Ministers as well.

The Economy Ministry is monitoring the situation from three angles: the point of view of the private sector, the point of view of the regions, and the point of view of industry-specific ministries.

The day before Deputy Economy Minister Yuri Chebotar, who is in charge of overseeing industrial development, met with Deputy Industry Minister Aleksandr Ogorodnikov, Deputy Architecture and Construction Minister Oleg Shvets, and Deputy Chairman of the Belarusian state light industry concern Bellegprom Vladislav Zaitsev. The state of affairs was discussed as well as proposals on the systemic measures that enterprises of the relevant industries need in order to operate steadily in conditions of the pandemic and the continued uncertainty on target markets.

The economy minister also said that meetings with representatives of the ministries in charge of the sphere of services will take place on 10 April. They will report the situation in the areas they oversee. “On Saturday we will accumulate all proposals of the industry-specific ministries, the regions, and the private sector and results of the monitoring into a special memo, which will be presented to the prime minister on Monday,” the economy minister explained.

Aleksandr Chervyakov pointed out that meetings to exchange opinions with representatives of the private sector will be held regularly. Representatives of other ministries will be invited to attend such meetings as well.