28 April 2007
PM Sidorski upbeat over Belarus economic prospects
Belarusian Prime Minister Syarhey Sidorski expressed confidence that Belarus would be able to maintain GDP growth at between eight and nine percent this year and subsequent years.
He said that a government innovation development program would foster the country's economic growth.
The official was speaking at an international conference on innovation policy and competitiveness held in Minsk on Thursday.
He said that the economic performance of Belarus in the first quarter of this year had showed that the economy had survived amid higher energy prices.
"Yes, we did have a deficit [in foreign trade] in the first two months. We failed to process a sufficient amount of oil and sell a sufficient amount of petroleum products in January. But we see prospects," he said, adding that the most important thing was that the country had had a surplus in trade with Russia, its major trade partners, in the first quarter. //BelaPAN
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