The Eurasian Development Bank is ready to work actively in the agro-industrial complex.

And it seems that the pace set by the Union State is turning into a benchmark for many other countries of the largest continent on the planet. The economy of the Eurasian region is growing at a rate higher than the world average this year. Analysts from the Eurasian Development Bank spoke about the main growth drivers and risks for the next year today in Almaty. High investment activity is noted in Belarus and it will continue next year. The Eurasian Development Bank is also among those who are actively ready to invest in new infrastructure projects.

Investments are needed for the development of the economy as a whole and individual industries in particular. Belarus, when drawing up annual plans, pays special attention to capital investments, both domestic and foreign. And it is important that these plans of both the state and business coincide in interests. The EDB is one of the active investors in the Belarusian economy. Cooperation has been going on for more than ten years. And there are a number of projects in the portfolio including long-term ones. Take, for example, the infrastructure and logistics complex "Prilesye" worth 70 million dollars. 10 of them have been mastered this year.

Thus, a new project for 170 million dollars is being discussed in Belarus with the Sodruzhestvo group of companies. This concerns agricultural enterprises. It is no secret that our country is strong in this area, and the modernization of the lines will expand the processing line, making the products more competitive in the EAEU and foreign markets.

Yaroslav Mandron, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of the EDB:

"In Belarus, we now have an accumulated portfolio of $523 million over the past three years. If you look at our entire history of interaction with Belarus, the figures are also interesting. Over 13 years of work in Belarus, we have made the same amount of investments that the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development made over 20 years. Therefore, we have accumulated experience of working in Belarus. The focus of 2024 is a fundamental emphasis on private projects. We can highlight four major areas there. This is financing the infrastructure of private companies associated with the expansion of production. This is about $170 million. We plan to allocate for these areas this year."

The priority of bank investment is infrastructure projects in the agro-industrial complex and green energy. We planned to invest $3 billion this year. The plans for 5 years are to invest almost $11 billion. This is for the Eurasian region as a whole.

Nikolay Podguzov, Chairman of the Management Board of the EDB:

"As for projects related to road infrastructure, they are a priority for the bank. And we are ready to get involved here both with the help of some grant instruments and with the help of further financing topics. But we are currently focusing on supporting private sector projects in Belarus. If some PPP (public-private partnership) model is developed for this project, then, of course, we will get involved."

As for economic development in 2024, the bank expects a record economic growth of more than 4% for 6 countries of the Eurasian region, and this is the highest figure in 12 years. Belarus has a GDP growth of 4.3%. This is despite the fact that at the beginning of the year the bank gave us just over 2%.

Alexey Kuznetsov, Senior Economist at EDB:

"All major industries are operating at maximum capacity, the output is increasing in all industries. In addition, high domestic demand in the economy remains. Wages are growing at double-digit rates, interest rates for doing business and for consumer loans are still quite comfortable. And investment activity is also starting to increase and is gaining momentum. Next year, we expect investment activity to accelerate even more, especially against the backdrop of new measures taken by the authorities to compensate for part of the investment costs, to abolish VAT on imported technological equipment. The measures of the authorities and the policy that is currently being implemented, and the conditions that have been created and externally, they, of course, contribute to the active, rapid, dynamic growth of the Republic of Belarus."

Next year, the bank predicts that the refinancing rate will not exceed 9.5 percent. This means that it will not change. Income and industrial production growth. At the same time, competition in the Russian market will also grow. This is a good incentive for development and active trade with new partners in the Far Arc countries, and, of course, in the Chinese market.