In January-September the Belarusian economy and its major branches expanded. The monetary and fiscal balance were in place, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said as he heard out a report of the government and the National Bank on Belarus’ economic performance in 2014 and the forecast for 2015, BelTA reports.

According to the President, the surplus of foreign trade in goods and services made up $660 million, which is a big improvement over the same period in 2013.

The head of state said that the payments on the national debt are made on time. Some $4.5 billion were allocated for these purposes in 2014.

Alexander Lukashenko praised the efforts to ensure budget discipline, timely performance of the obligations on the payment of salaries and pensions, other social and preferential payments.