Government of Belarus expects 2023 GDP growth at target level of 3.8% - Prime Minister
MINSK. Oct 23 (Interfax) - Belarus plans to achieve its target parameters for GDP growth, inflation, export of goods and investments in 2023, Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko said to parliamentarians on Monday.
"Considering the measures taken to achieve target parameters, the government estimates the growth of gross domestic product in 2023 at 3.8%," Golovchenko said, as quoted by BelTA.
It is also planned to achieve the targets for the export of goods and investment. Meanwhile, "the actual growth of the population's real cash incomes is expected to be higher than forecast," the prime minister said.
In the period from January-August, exports of goods increased by 8.2% to $25.5 billion, he said. "The $2 billion increase in exports is due not only to an increase in shipments of petroleum products and potash fertilizers, but also to an increase in shipments of the rest of the range of goods. Instruments to support exports are being widely used in foreign markets," the prime minister said.
According to his assessment, the inflation rate at the end of the year will not exceed the forecast 7-8%. "The measures taken jointly with the National Bank made it possible to maintain the level of annual inflation within acceptable parameters, which decreased in September to 2%. Inflation since the beginning of the year is 3.6% with a forecast for the nine months of 2023 of no more than 7.4%. Based on the results of 2023, the target indicator for the consumer price index will be achieved within the forecast parameter," Golovchenko said.
He said that the situation in the country's financial market is also stable. In general, there was a net supply of foreign currency in the foreign exchange market. The volume of gold and foreign exchange reserves has not changed from almost $8 billion, which is higher than the planned level (the target forecast for the end of 2023 is at least $6 billion).
Generally speaking, the Belarusian economy is demonstrating resilience and adaptability to external shocks. "As a result of the measures taken, despite all the restrictions, the economy demonstrates resilience and adaptability to external shocks. Moreover, the dynamics of economic growth have been restored and are maintaining a positive trend. GDP has been growing monthly since May. Based on the results of 9 months, the growth rate was 3.5%," he said.
The Prime Minister also said that industrial enterprises are operating stably. In January-September, production of televisions more than doubled, cars increased 3.8 times, trucks were up by a third, mining dump trucks rose 9%, washing machines by 30%, elevators by 7%, and shoes by 13%.