Minister: Belarus' economy has bounced back to growth

Reviewing Belarus' economic performance in H1 2023, Aleksandr Chervyakov noted: “Belarus has been under unprecedented external pressure for the second year already. By and large, we have managed to successfully overcome the first, most difficult stage, when we had to adapt the economy to the new reality. The timely decisions taken by the government helped avert the negative scenario. Enterprises kept working, our people were shielded from the sanctions, the government fulfilled its social commitments in full.”

According to him, the task for 2023 is to move on from the adaptation and recovery phase to economic growth in the given conditions. Economic performance in the first half of the year shows how effectively this task is being addressed and where development reserves can be found.

In H1 2023, four most important targets were fulfilled and over-fulfilled: GDP grew by 2% vs the projected 1.9%, the export grew by 9.4% vs the projected 2.9%, real household income grew by 3% vs the projected 2% and the inflation rate stayed within 3% vs the projected 6.9%. “We were a little short on investments that rose by 7.2% vs the projected 8.1%, but the pace achieved (plus 10 percentage points over the first quarter) suggests that we have chosen the right set of instruments to boost investment,” the minister explained.

“If we compare economic development in comparable conditions, that is, taking into account the impact of sanctions, then in the second quarter it grew by 5.9% year-on-year. Analyzing the monthly dynamics, we see that growth in June was even higher - more than 7%. And such a strong dynamics remains in place for the second month in a row,” the economy minister noted.