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House approves government's economic policy program

 

The House of Representatives of the Belarusian National Assembly voted unanimously at the final plenary meeting of its extraordinary session on February 23 to approve the government's 2011-15 economic policy program, BelaPAN said.

While addressing the lower parliamentary chamber, Prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich described the program as the government's roadmap for meeting the targets set by the Fourth All-Belarusian People's Assembly and Alyaksandr Lukashenka.

The targets are "unprecedentedly high," Mr. Myasnikovich noted, adding that the House's suggestions regarding the program had been taken into consideration.

The top priority of the program is to implement the government's social and economic development program for the period between 2011 and 2015, which stipulates that Belarus should become one of the top 50 countries in the human development index and a regional leader in Eastern Europe in terms of living standards and the quality of life.

The program requires the government to ensure steady economic growth and increase Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by between 62 and 68 percent and GDP adjusted for purchasing-power parity to between $28,600 and $29,800 per capita. Labor productivity should increase by between 63 and 68 percent and labor productivity adjusted for purchasing-power parity from $33,300 to between $58,000 and $60,000 per capita.

Fixed capital expenditures are projected to increase by between 90 and 97 percent and the export of goods and services by 120 percent. Belarus should have an export surplus of between 0.5 and 0.6 percent of GDP in 2015, compared with a deficit of 13.3 percent of GDP in 2010. The export of "innovative products" should rise from $3 billion to $13 billion to account for 20 or 21 percent of the total amount of industrial companies' exports, up from 11 percent.

The population's real (inflation-adjusted) disposable money income is to rise by between 70 and 76 percent.

The government will work to remove all impediments for doing business for both state-owned and private companies, encourage fair competition, improve regulatory, auditing and supervisory practices, increase the efficiency of state property management and create a legal basis for developing cooperation between the government and the private sector
The government will also work to attract investment to create new jobs in the high-tech and services sectors.

Measures will be taken to develop the country's innovation system and its information and communications infrastructure to meet the growing information needs of the citizens, businesses and the state, ensuring that the information supply exceeds the demand.

The program also provides for developing economic cooperation with other countries, integrating the national economy into the world economy, establishing mutually beneficial ties with multinational corporations and drawing in foreign direct investment.