Golovchenko on situation in economy and financial market: the mood of business and population is optimistic

The economy of Belarus is at the stage of recovery growth – as Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko told journalists after the meeting with the President. He noted that one of the objectives of the meeting was ‘to see the forest behind the trees, and to see the situation that is developing in the economy behind the numbers’.

“We can say that the tasks are being completed. This conclusion is confirmed by the words of the President, which he said at the end of the meeting, that the situation is stable and this is the main thing. If we take it as a whole, not only do we have some record figures that are not typical for periods of economic turbulence (both record exports, and a record low debt burden for enterprises, etc.), on the whole, we can say with confidence that the economy is in the stage of recovery.”

In this regard, Roman Golovchenko noted that there are categories that are interesting for macroeconomists while there are things that people are interested in, “This is the exchange rate, interest rates on deposits and loans, wages and incomes of the population. Both salaries and incomes of the population have finally moved into the growth stage after last year, when they were slightly below 100 percent because of high inflation. Inflation is at a record low now. Another clear indicator is that people are ‘turning’ their foreign currency deposits into Belarusian Rouble deposits. Over five months, Belarusian Rouble deposits of individuals have grown by almost Br1.5bn. At the same time, foreign currency deposits decreased. The same is true for legal entities. This is a very good trend, showing the growth of confidence in the Belarusian currency and, in general, confidence in what is happening in the economy. In principle, the mood of both business and the population is quite optimistic.”