Minister: Budget payments at about 17% of annual plan in January-February

In January-February payments to the budget accounted for about 17% of the annual plan, Belarus’ Finance Minister Yuri Seliverstov said on the air of the Belarus 1 TV channel, BelTA has learned.

"Speaking about the execution of the budget in January and February, I can say that it was quite good, as planned. We got about 17% of the annual plan for those two months. The budget was executed quite steadily," said Yuri Seliverstov.

There are some issues with March payments, the minister noted. According to him, there are problems with the volume of payments from those sectors of the economy that have been subjected to sanctions and have not yet refocused - the export of potash fertilizers, petroleum products. "Unfortunately, we see this slowdown, but I am sure, will be overcome this problem," Yuri Seliverstov noted.

It is expected that budget revenues will lose about 10%. "We can see this today and are taking measures to revise expenditures and adjust certain indicators," the minister said.

Speaking about the measures envisaged in Decree No. 93 "On additional measures to ensure the stable functioning of the economy” of 14 March 2022 Yuri Seliverstov noted that it is too early to talk about specific amounts of support. “But I would not say that these will be some huge resources, because our country does not have such huge resources that we can pour in the manufacturing industry. Now it is important to set priorities as we will not be able to help everyone," he said.

It is assumed that support will be provided to those sectors that needs it now in order to redirect their exports to new markets, to replace imports in domestic products. For example, the decree allows the government to change the areas of spending of the innovation funds.