Lukashenko: 2020 is the most challenging year in decades

The government and the National Bank have submitted a package of forecast documents to the president. In order to get comprehensive views on them and to compare the proposed approaches with the heads of local authorities, a wide range of participants, including senior officials, deputies of the prime minister, ministers and governors, have been invited to the meeting.

“During this meeting we will not only sum up the preliminary results of the year but will also consider the forecast for the year. We will not be discussing the five-year plans today. This is the starting year in the five-year period and we will carefully consider it. As for the five-year period, perhaps, we will make some adjustments at the end of the year. In early January, we will return to the five-year plan, especially since we are going to review it at the Belarusian People's Congress," Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

The head of state noted that it is possible to look at the results of the economy this year in different ways. The industry fell behind last year's results, investments decreased, exports plunged by 15%.

“Today we need to take a wider look at the current situation and realize the extraordinary challenges we are facing and the problems we have been able to avoid. This is very important for future planning. The current government has faced one of the most difficult periods in decades. Sometimes the situation changed within days, not even weeks or months,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

At the same time, the president noted that the key task has been achieved, namely the financial stability in the banking sector and the foreign exchange market. "We did not run into any arrears and paid off all the debts. This was achieved in the context of the tight budgetary framework and the main shock of the year - coronavirus. We have done everything possible for this," the president stressed.