Belarus will not create price “oasis”, Andrei Kobyakov says

When asked about the measures which the government has been taking to regulate the inflation, Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Andrei Kobyakov said that Belarus will not create a price “oasis”. In January-April, consumer prices in Belarus upped by 5.3%. In 2008 the inflation is projected at the level of 6-8%. It is obvious that the country will not manage to meet this target. “We cannot sit by and observe what is going on around us,” Andrei Kobyakov said. “If we create a price “oasis” in the country, we will risk creating a deficit in some categories of the goods, the prices for which are already 2-2.5 times lower than in the neighboring countries,” Andrei Kobyakov added. According to him, a reasonable approach should be applied to addressing the inflation problem. The main thing is to ensure an increase in real wages in the country. In 2009, the inflation is projected at the level of 10%.