Chervyakov: growth in production and sales contributes to an increase in incomes of the population

April 30, MINSK. Growth in production and sales has a positive effect on the income level of the population. This was stated by Minister of Economy Alexander Chervyakov, answering a question from a BelTA correspondent about the dominant trends in the economy in the first quarter of 2023.

According to Alexander Chervyakov, the recovery dynamics continues in the economy. In January-March, GDP increased to 97.9%, on average plus 1.5 percentage points per month. And in pure March, GDP has already amounted to 100.8%.

“The most important prerequisite for such results was the success in industry, the growth rate in March was over 109%. The growth was primarily due to the products of mechanical engineering, electrical equipment, microelectronics, food and light industry. Agriculture is also working steadily with a growth of 3%. Production volumes are increasing. MEAT and MILK, livestock and productivity are growing.If you look at other industries, such as transport, the growth rate of passenger traffic remains quite high - about 116%, which means that people actively go on vacation, and business - on business trips. excluding pipeline transport) are also growing - about 5 percentage points a month. This is a good trend," the HEAD of the ministry said.

Alexander Chervyakov also drew attention to the improvement in the main financial indicators of organizations in January-February and the restoration of EXPORT volumes.

"Good financial results were obtained by enterprises. Return on sales is about 8%. Net profit was received by 26% more than in the same period last year. The number of unprofitable enterprises decreased by 9.5%. And the debt burden decreased to 49.5%. This minus 1.2 percentage points compared to the beginning of the year.In the current year, in just two months, we have already compensated for 98% of losses in the markets of Western countries and Ukraine by increasing deliveries to friendly states.In February, compared to January of this year, exports of goods and services increased more than 4% (plus $200 million).Moreover, the value of exports in February was 3% (by $100 million) higher than in February 2022. According to our estimates, in the first quarter, the growth rate of exports of goods and services will be more than 105%.This allows us to ensure stability in the foreign exchange and financial markets," the head of the economic department stressed.

According to the minister, the order of the head of state to curb price growth is being fulfilled. "Annual inflation in March amounted to 6%, a decrease compared to February by almost 2 times. Belarus and RUSSIA are leaders in the lowest inflation rates among neighboring countries (6% and 3.5%, respectively). it should be noted that in "In general, the inflation trend is slowing down in the world. However, in the neighboring countries, which so actively demonstrate their unfriendly attitude towards us and Russia, inflation exceeds 16%. The boomerang always returns. And the sanctions too," the head of the ministry said.

Growth in production and sales contributes to an increase in household income. "According to the latest data for the quarter, the level of real wages, that is, taking into account inflation, increased by 1.7%. And pensions for this period in real terms increased by 9.6%. These are key elements in the income structure. Therefore, we estimate that the growth rate of real incomes of the population will also exceed 100%," the Minister of Economy concluded.