Every month we are doing better and better, Deputy Prime Minister Vasil Matsyusheuski said about the economic growth of our country.
Industry has become the main driver of growth
Exports of capital goods in January-April this year increased by half compared with the same period last year. This, according to officials, had a positive impact on earnings and employment.
Experts are concerned
Belarus’ economic growth, which in the first half of 2017 was 0.9%, lags heavily behind the world figures. This means that our country continues to lose markets and expand the technological gap between the competitors. However, Matsyusheuski also promised certain structural changes. In particular, he mentioned weakening the control of economic entities and changing approaches to the management of state property.
A striking example of how Belarus, despite the GDP growth, increases the gap between competitors is the sale of MAZ trucks in Russia. Although exports of the Belarusian machines there have increased, they are still many times smaller than the increased demand. As a result, the Minsk Automobile Plant went down from the fourth place in the Russian market, which it held after KAMAZ, GAZ and Volvo, to the ninth place, behind such competitors as “Scania”, “Mercedes Benz”, “Isuzu”, “DAP” and “MAN.”
Stanislau Ivashkevich, “Belsat”, photo: Viktor Drachev / TASS / Forum
