Golovchenko: Government manages to solve most important tasks of socio-economic development of Belarus set by President

The government has managed to solve the most important tasks of socio-economic development, set by the President. This was stated by Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko at a meeting of the Council of Ministers on February 21.

The government discussed the results of the economy last year and the start of 2024. One of the key issues is the growth of people's welfare. Real incomes of the population have grown by almost 6.5% due to, among other things, low inflation. Measures were taken in the real sector of the economy to pull up the laggards.

During the year, wages grew steadily. "In real terms, wages grew by 11% with a forecast of 104.6%. In nominal terms, it increased by 16.7% and amounted to Br1902 for the year, including Br2271 in December," said Roman Golovchenko.

"As in previous years, support was provided for budgetary employees and low-paid categories of workers. Pointwise decisions were made to establish additional payments to teachers, doctors, educators, as well as workers in the sports industry, social services and culture. In 2023, more than Br1 billion was allocated for these purposes," the head of the government said.

The balance of foreign trade for last year is positive. It has slightly decreased compared to 2022. But the reasons are objective. It is a drop in export prices by more than 15% and growth of investment imports by more than 1.5 times.