Posted: 09.08.2022 11:59:00

Lukashenko: Belarusian economy should perform not worse than last year

Issues related to the economy functioning under sanctions and measures to overcome them have been studied today at the Council of Ministers. The meeting – held at the House of Government – has also been attended by the President.

Photo: www.belta.by

In the beginning of meeting, Aleksandr Lukashenko noted, “This is a serious event, it is landmark – though not emergency. This is an interim event, focusing seriously on the results of the year. I would like to have a good, kind conversation at the end of this year, to shake hands and be pleased that our relatively small country (on a global scale) – of an average European size – withstood the unprecedented, terrible, and unjustified pressure.”

The Head of State stressed that the tasks are clear at all levels. “I understand the situation very well. You probably follow all my actions. I visit local communities, talk to people, receive information from at least a dozen sources – except the media, and I understand the situation we are in. With this in mind, the Prime Minister and the Government received a single task: we should not work worse than last year,” he said.

As noted by the President, there were doubts when the task was being outlined. “Will we be able to work at the last year’s level? After all, the sanctions are unprecedented for our export-oriented economy. During my trips around the country and while studying these or other problems, I got convinced: we will be able to do this. Those who work hard today demonstrate good results. In turn, those who are relaxed – thinking that everything is ok, that it will be resolved somehow, and that they will be forgiven… This will not be the case. We must work hard, look for new logistics chains and new consumers for our goods. This is the number one issue,” Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed.

The Head of State added that Belarus’ ministers are not so much overloaded with work compared to other states. He demanded, “Therefore, each minister should be responsible for his own sphere. So far, they are underperforming – as evidenced by my meetings with people working in the field of agriculture and industry. So we have such an interim meeting of the Government today. We need to schedule a meeting of the Government in the same format for the end of the year under the President’s chairmanship – to study in detail the results of work. I would like to emphasise another time: we have a single task – to perform not worse than last year.”