The main priority of the Belarusian economy for the coming years will be creation of the conditions for the foreign direct investment increase, including, the creation of high-tech industries. It was stated by the head of the investments department of the Ministry of Economy of Belarus Sergei Trofimovich on October 7.
According to the representative of the Ministry of Economy, new ways of working with investors are now being practiced in Belarus, which are the conclusion of investment contracts and attracting investment agents.
According to the Ministry of Economy, a substantial investment activity surge in the country resulted in the Presidential Decree № 10 on creation of additional conditions for investment activity, which was signed on August 6, 2009. Since then, Belarus has registered 255 investment contracts of about $ 11 billion.
However, experts of international organizations believe, that a great potential of Belarus in the sphere of foreign direct investment is still not implemented.
This Year Belarus is Implementing 985 Investment Projects, Economy Ministry
This year the Ministry of Economic Affairs is monitoring the implementation of 985 investment projects. The total planned amount of investment is Br18.6 trillion. The Br6 trillion or 32.3% of the planned amount have already been spent on these projects in the first half of this year. 37 investment projects of Br263.5 billion have been implemented for this period.
The Belarusian economy received $4.4 billion of foreign investment in January-June 2010, which is 4.4% more in comparison with the same period of 2009. $2.6 billion of foreign direct investment was attracted of this amount, which is 7.2% higher than the amount of the same period last year. Other investments (loans, financial leasing) amounted to $1.7 billion.
The largest volume of foreign investments (50.7%) engaged in transportation is more than $2.2 billion. The share of industry is also high- 23.2%, or more than $1 million, as well as trade and public catering share- 15.6%, or $689.5 million.
As reported by the Ministry of Economy, more than 2 / 3 of the foreign investments volume (more than $3.1 billion) comes from Russia. $3.3 billion (76.5% of the total) is the largest amount of foreign investment of the first half of 2010 enrolled in Minsk.
However, the most important parameter of the country economic security is the ratio of investment to GDP, which, according to the Ministry of Economy, reached 30.2% in January — August 2010. This corresponds to the forecast for the end of 2010, fixed by the program of socio-economic development of Belarus for 2006-2010.
