SOCHI, 9 June (BelTA) – Belarus has managed to develop an anti-crisis strategy for the domestic economy within a short period of time, Belarus’ Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko said at the plenary session of the Eurasian Congress’23 in Sochi, BelTA has learned.
“A quarter of the Belarusian economy found itself under the direct impact of Western sanctions. In fact, we lost our traditional markets, that is the markets of the neighboring countries. Given that all industries are interconnected in one way or another, this produced a cumulative effect. The remaining sectors of the economy were affected indirectly. The purpose of the sanctions was clear – to deliver a blow to our economy,” said Roman Golovchenko.
He added: “Western experts predicted that our GDP would shrink by at least 20%. To make it clear: the export accounts for more than 60% of Belarus’ GDP. Our economy is very open. The export generated $40 billion out of $76 billion of GDP last year. This shows a high degree of openness and vulnerability of our economy to external shocks. Of course, we had to take action.”
“Within a short period of time we devised a policy response. As far as exports are concerned, we beefed up support for exporters, restored logistics, dealt with the settlement system. At the domestic level, the necessary decisions were made to ensure smooth operation of enterprises, to substitute imports as fast as possible, and to establish strict control of pricing. We adapted to the new reality within six months. Since August last year the economy has been bouncing back,” the head of government concluded.