Scientist explains why Lukashenko pays so much attention to regions’ development

"This year, the country’s agro-food complex will officially generate about $8bn in revenue, while it is difficult to estimate how much unorganised retail exports amount to. More than 350,000 people from Lithuania, Latvia and Poland have visited Belarus on a visa-free basis,” Valery Belsky, the Aide to the President of Belarus for Financial and Credit System Issues, Associate Professor, Doctor of Economics, told participants of an intellectual marathon dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the Znanie Belarusian Society

As noted by the scientist, the need to move away from simplified approaches to assessing the effectiveness of investments should be considered on the example of rural areas.

“There is such a notion as the versatility of the industry: agricultural products might not be grown, but the territories need to be taken care of. If enterprises do not work, then payments to the unemployed should be made, or the social base of various deviations would grow. These potential costs of a refusal should be credited to the asset of villages. Moreover, our cities are not infinite. After the USSR collapse, Minsk has added 400,000 citizens, and twenty percent of all Belarusians live in the capital – which is a large figure. Therefore, the Head of State is paying so much attention to development of the economic and social potential of our regions,” Mr. Belsky said.