Lukashenko sets task to return to single-digit inflation in 2023

Belarus’ major task is to move back to single-digit inflation next year, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said at a government meeting to discuss economic matters in Minsk on 6 October, BelTA has learned.

“I expect effective proposals from the government and the National Bank to curb the price growth. The task number one is to ensure single-digit inflation next year (some 7-8%),” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

There are objective factors that influence the price growth. Due to the thoughtless sanctions imposed by Western countries, the usual pattern of world trade has been disrupted, the president said. As a result, inflation rates are hitting records all over the world. “That means that rising prices and high inflation are not an invention of Belarus. The whole world is going crazy with this inflation,” said Aleksandr Lukashenko and named a number of examples. The growth of food prices in the United States has become the biggest one since 1979. The European Union set a record for the entire period of the single European currency (1 January 1999). In Estonia, annual inflation exceeds 25%; and it is above 20% in Latvia and Lithuania. “More is on the way,” the Belarusian leader added.