Lukashenka: «Negative balance threatens our economy»

“If next year the negative balance is increasing at such rate as it is doing today, all our achievements will turn to be under threat”, declared Aliaksandr Lukashenka at the meeting on problems of social and economic country development and of forecast projects of social and economic development, budget and main directions of monetary policy for 2008.

“In my view, the government in general – its financial and power blocks – begins to foul”, A. Lukashenka said. He acknowledged that the forecast on food products industry growth, limitation of import growth rates and providing positive balance of foreign trade of goods and services, wasn’t fulfilled.

Besides, according to him, the planned level of efficiency of industry products sold wasn’t reached. “The decrease of economy efficiency is an extremely negative tendency”, the head of state empathised.

In this connection A. Lukashenka is eager to know from the Prime Minister “what measures were taken by the government to reduce the negative processes, why they have failed to obtain a positive result?” “You should understand, I can’t repeat the same year by year. It makes a mockery of the authorities”, Lukashenka declared.

Besides, the head of state demanded the government to define a problem of growth of negative foreign sales balance. “China managed to break this vicious circle in due time. The only way out is simply sell more that buy”, A. Lukashenka said.

The Belarusian ruler declared he had an impression that “you, Mr. Sidorski (PM) are a temporary worker”. “You must argue me out of it”, Lukashenka said.

Lukashenka asked the Minister of Finance what principally new things were suggested to the budget of 2008.

“How have we advanced in the solving of settled by me task to decrease tax burden, in what degree the suggestions on perfection of the tax laws have been worked out?” the president asked. He is sure “we can’t suffocate both state and private business”. Moreover, Lukashenka required from the government to answer the question “will the decrease of value-adding tax rates by 20 per cent lead to the outrunning inflation growth”.

Speaking about the forecast performances for the next year, A. Lukashenka expressed his bewilderment: “what a dispute we have here: we can’t, we don’t want, it’s wrong.” “If it is wrong, others will do it”, the president of the country declared. “The fact, that the performances should be no lower than in 5-year plan, can’t be even discussed. We can speak only about higher rates of economic development”, Lukashenka stressed.

According to him, the country has faced “an important and hard task: take the country by hand and passed it thorough, like a ship, in order it doesn’t sink as in Kerch Strait”.

We remind, Belarus has negative balance of foreign trade of USD 2644.3 mln. for a period January-September, the Ministry of Statistics and Analysis informs. Within September 2007 the negative balance has increased by USD 284.7 mln. In January–September 2006 the negative balance amounted USD 1397.0 mln.