President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has said in an address to the nation and the parliament that the country has an "irresponsible" attitude to the currency. "We are irresponsible towards the currency, coming into the country. It must be directed to highly profitable investment projects, but we have to spend gold reserves instead," said the president. According to him, Belarus has passed the stage of self-affirmation and has proved its independence, while a strong, proactive and developing economy is essential for the development of the country.
«We have coped with the queue for housing, which has been preserved only in Minsk. To maintain a stable exchange rate, the bank has to spend gold reserves, accumulated in previous years,» said Alexander Lukashenko. Talking about the currency and the population, he said: «People have come out with overweight ruble mass. And people have gone to buy the currency. You can see what has come of it.»
«2011 is the foundation for large-scale plans for the economy development over five years, said Alexander Lukashenko. — One should live only within one’s needs. We have a 11% GDP growth, an even greater rate of industrial production growth, but export revenues won’t cover demand for the currency, resulting, thus, in high foreign trade deficit.»
The president has also criticized the government’s actions for the program undercut, as well as non-fulfillment of the planned program. «We should teach everyone to make money at the very beginning of the five-year plan, not only to receive from the state. The struggle for markets is coming to the fore today. It is important not to produce but to sell with the benefits,» Alexander Lukashenko said, adding that he had planned that «the new Government and Prime Minister would join the work immediately, without swinging, but it hasn’t happened so far.»
