OREANDA-NEWS. December 21, 2009. The Government of Belarus plans to ensure the high growth of the national economy in 2010, Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Kobyakov told a joint session of the National Assembly of Belarus, reported the Official website government.by.

According to Andrei Kobyakov, the global economy is expected to recover in 2010. Achieving the most important goals of the social and economic development of Belarus next year will help reach this goal.

“This forecast is very ambitious. We need to ensure higher economic growth. Next year the GDP is expected to increase by 11-13% from 2009, which will enable us to implement the goals spelled out in the social and economic development programme for 2006-2010,” Andrei Kobyakov said.

In his words, the GDP growth depends on the parameters of all basic economic sectors. The industrial output is projected to increase by 10-12%. “These indicators will be met through better performance of the companies, implementation of investment projects, restructuring and upgrading,” the Vice Premier noted.

The agricultural output is expected to soar by 10-11%. The focus will be made on the development of large companies as well as farms and personal land plots.

Capital investments will go up by 23-25% given a considerable increase in direct foreign investments, to 12.6% of the total. Belarus is set to present its investment potential more widely. In 2010 the country will continue paving the way to joining the list of top 30 countries with the best business climate.

The Government of Belarus has managed to reverse the situation regarding the fundamental issues in the economy, Andrei Kobyakov told.

According to him, Belarus was less exposed to the global financial and economic crisis than other countries. Right till the end of Q3 2009 Belarus was one of the few countries displaying economic growth. Yet the GDP dynamics has slowed down in recent months. At the same time the results of the social and economic development of Belarus in January-November show that “the Government has managed to reverse the situation regarding several fundamental issues and to ensure gradual movement towards the growth zone.”

Ensuring the growth of production and sales is the main task of the Government, Andrei Kobyakov said.

In January-November this year, the GDP index made up 99.6%, up 0.6% from January-October. The volume of industrial production was up 0.8% to 96.3%. “It is very important that we have ensured the growth while reducing the warehouse extra stocks. They were down by Br45 billion in November,” Andrei Kobyakov added.

In 2009 the inflation rate in Belarus will be kept within the projections of 9-11%, Andrei Kobyakov told.

“This year we have kept the inflation rate under control. In January-November the Consumer Price Index reached 108.7%. It is the level which will allow us to be within the projected limits of 9-11%, having an insignificant increase in prices for some kinds of products,” Andrei Kobyakov said.

According to him, till the end of the year the situation on the consumer market will be stable. Belarus has an essential stock of products. The Vice Premier also reminded the deputies that the country has taken the measures to stimulate the growth of retail sales including consumer lending on favourable terms.

Belarus will not need emergency external borrowing in 2010, Andrei Kobyakov told reporters.

“I assume that we will not need emergency financing, the kind we resorted to this year, provided there are no radical changes in the foreign trade in energy resources and the Belarusian economy develops as planned,” the Vice Premier said.

He informed that the projected trade deficit for 2010 stands at US4.6-4.7 billion. Andrei Kobyakov underlined that the trade deficit is not so bad, provided there are sources to redeem it. “We believe that next year, if everything goes according to the plan adopted by the head of state, we will not need considerable state borrowing to offset the foreign trade deficit,” the Belarusian Vice Premier said. This can be done by raising credit resources on the market basis, and foreign investment. So additional external borrowing is not on the national agenda in 2010.