Belarusian export to exceed intermediate import by 43% in 2012
MINSK, 7 February (BelTA) – In 2012 Belarusian export should exceed intermediate import by 43%, Belarusian Economy Minister Nikolai Snopkov told a session of the Council of Ministers on 7 February.
Nikolai Snopkov said that in 2011 “we truly became an export-oriented economy, with over 60% of the output exported. In 2010 the figure stood at 46%”. It has allowed forming a more sound merchandise export structure. In 2010 the entire export could not cover the country’s demand for intermediate import while in 2011 export exceeded the cost of imported raw materials by 17%. Therefore, the task for 2012 is more ambitious: export should exceed intermediate import by 43%.
According to the Economy Minister, in 2011 import increased by nearly 16% as against 2008 but mainly due to the import getting 10% more expensive.
Analyzing last year’s foreign trade results, Nikolai Snopkov stressed that not all government agencies had been able to exploit the positive opportunities triggered by the devaluation. “Unfortunately, the 2008 year level of export of tractors, automobile, refrigerators, elevators has not been reached. The export of the Belarusian forestry concern Bellesbumprom, which primarily uses local raw materials, is still 20% below the 2008 year level,” stated Nikolai Snopkov.
Ministries and concerns have been assigned differentiated correlations of output and export figures for 2012 for the sake of balancing the foreign trade.
