Meeting with Belarus’ Prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich

On 21 July President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko heard out a report from Belarusian Prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich. The President was informed about Belarus’ social and economic development in H1 2014.

The meeting focused on a number of issues concerning the international contacts of the government and the fulfillment of concrete instruction in the economy.

Speaking about the foreign currency market of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko said that the situation is now stable. “The population has calmed down somehow and enterprises now sell more foreign currency,” the Belarusian leader stated.

Aleksandr Lukashenko stated that certainly not every Belarusian but the population on the whole had had a considerable amount of foreign currency. “I don’t know what they have been preparing for and why although we have always stated that we are not going to bring down the exchange rate of the national currency and will do our best to support our national currency. Certainly, not at the expense of export but we will always pursue a predictable policy,” the head of state remarked.

The President instructed the Prime Minister to use the stabilization that has just happened “in order to bolster some matters regarding the economy”.

Participants of the meeting also discussed the plans of the government to expand the export of industrial output. Aleksandr Lukashenko drew the attention of the Premier to the fact that despite a certain increase in GDP, there are still many so-called bottlenecks related, first of all, to the export and sale of finished products. The head of state also asked about the fulfillment of his instructions to implement a number of projects. One of them is modernization of wood processing companies.

“I do not want a situation when upgraded companies ask us for money to boost their current assets because they cannot sell the goods they have produced. It is unacceptable,” the head of state stressed.

Apart from that, the President and the Prime Minister discussed the progress in the harvesting campaign and measures to raise the efficiency of the agricultural industry.