According to Prime Minister Mikhail Miasnikovich, Belarus should have a balanced approach to foreign borrowings. "Over the past three years, external public and corporate debt of Belarus grew in 10 times. Though it does not exceed the threshold of national security, it is still great; it's strange for Belarusians to live in debt," he said on January 12.
«Let them say that everybody overseas lives in debt, but we are accustomed to have a minimal debt, for it must be returned with interests,» the prime minister said during the meeting at the company «Khimvolokno» in Svetlahorsk. Belarusian-made fibre development prospects were discussed during the event.
According to Mikhail Miasnikovich, only prospective investment projects are worth borrowing money and only if there’s an opportunity to repay the debt.
Miasnikovich Demands to Raise Export of Products with High Added Value
The Prime Minister called the increase of production and export share of products with high added value an important task for the country.
Mikhail Miasnikovich stressed that Belarus’ GDP should grow in 1.62-1.68 times over the next five years. «But it does not imply that all industries can add the same. We should pay more attention to chemical, biological and pharmaceutical industries. Other sectors won’t be able to make an increase in more than 1.6 times,» BelTA quoted him.
The Prime Minister recalls that the chemical industry has been suspended in Belarus since Soviet times. «We have no strength either within the USSR or in the subsequent years and we had to go on sale of ready-made products rather than semi-finished products and raw materials. There was every reason for this,» says the official.
According to him, even now, despite the problem to refine oil more deeply, fertile materials make most of the manufactured products. However, there was tasked to increase exports of products with higher added value.
What we Produce and Sell for Export is Not What we Need, Miasnikovich
According to Mikhail Miasnikovich, one also needs to lower sales volumes of semi-finished products and raw materials.
«Of course, we have built up production over this time. Today, both volumes and products are not what we need. But the requirements of the world are also quite different, and we have an open economy, which means serious competition. But what we produce and sell for export is not what we need. We sell semi-finished products to other countries so that they could make the goods with higher added value there, which will eventually appear on our market,» said Mikhail Miasnikovich.
The Prime Minister stressed that this issue should be resolved shortly.
«The government plans to «load» the chemical industry, make it completed and raise it to the global level,» the official said. According to him, the subject of exports to date may no longer be in demand tomorrow, and then the Belarusian factories will be futile.
Miasnikovich Wants to Improve the Structure of Attracted Investments
The Prime Minister set a target to optimize the structure of attracted investments into Belarus. There are more productive and social facilities in the investment portfolio of the country at this point.
«But there are things to put off. However, one should increase investment in machinery and equipment, that determines our future development. Investment is what will work for tomorrow and give added value,» Mikhail Miasnikovich said.
As investment growth in fixed assets amounted to 114.5% in Homel voblast in 2010, while this figure is even smaller in Svetlahorsk district, Mikhail Miasnikovich demanded from the leadership of these regions to devote more attention to solving this problem in 2011.
