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Government appears to just pretend to be making much effort to boost exports, Lukashenka says

 

The government appears to just pretend that it is making an all-out effort to increase exports and diversify export destinations, Alyaksandr Lukashenka said Friday in Minsk, speaking at a government meeting on the national economy performance in 2012 and economic targets for 2013.

The Belarusian leader directed that exports should increase by $8 billion, or more than 15 percent, in 2013 to total $60 billion.

“Increasing exports is a major factor for regaining a high economic growth rate and the keystone of macroeconomic stability amid peak payments on the external public debt,” Mr. Lukashenka said.

The entire executive branch of government, from the Council of Ministers to the heads of local governments, should contributed to efforts to increase exports, he stressed.

“I’ve already got tired of talking about the need to expand the geography of sales,” he said, noting that agreements had been reached on the supply of Belarusian products to Cuba, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia and other Latin American countries, but the agreements had not yet been implemented. “Go there along the beaten path and get things moving,” he said.

According to Mr. Lukashenka, the government reported that Belarus entered 15 new export markets in 2012, which actually accounted for only 0.1 percent of the total volume of exports, while the country ceased to export to 11 other countries. // BelaPAN