OREANDA-NEWS. The IMF feels critical about plans of the Belarusian government to achieve an 8.5% GDP growth in 2013.

Head of the IMF mission in Belarus, David Hofman, made a statement to this effect at a press-conference in Minsk.

The official forecast sees Belarus’ GDP growth in 2013 at 8.5%. It is worth mentioning that Belarus’ economy expanded by a tiny 1.5% in 2012, although the forecast stood at 5-5.5%.

The IMF reckons that Belarus is aiming too high with regard to economic growth. The target appears even more complicated considering that the government plans to facilitate economic growth at the expense of export growth, while Belarus’ major trade partners demonstrate fairly low rates of economic growth, Hofman said.

The IMF feels concerned that the economic growth target (at 8.5%) may be out of tune with the inflation target for 2013 (at 12%), Hofman said.