1st report of new Prime Minister to President of Belarus

The draft forecast of the development of Belarus, the budget and the main directions of the monetary policy for 2019 have already been prepared by the updated government staff and are being finalized.

This was reported to the President today by Prime Minister Sergei Rumas. The Head of State noted that he was primarily interested in the development of economic processes, taking into account the complex external and internal challenges and their impact on the financial health of the Belarusian economy. The President also inquired about the opinion of the Prime Minister concerning imposition of prospective budgets for up to five years and modernization of the structure of the Cabinet after renovation.

As the head of government notes, all planned indicators for the current and future years, including GDP growth, will be met. The Council of Ministers sees reserves not only for accelerating the growth rate of the economy in the second quarter of this year, but also for exceeding the forecast key indicators. At the same time, one of the main factors of the slowdown is the weakening of the Russian ruble and the unsettled issues, such as the supply of crude oil, refinancing of part of the debt and obtaining Eurasian credit resources. The government expects to come to an agreement with its Russian counterparts within two weeks.

Sergey Rumas will be working in the Belarusian football federation until March-April next year.

Preparations for the European Games in Belarus were discussed as well. Our country will not compete with the host of the first forum - Azerbaijan - in the amount of spending, Belarusians should bet on the highest level of the organization.

Sergei Rumas notes that the renewed composition of the government is working in the regular mode. According to the Prime Minister, 36 members of the government are too much for a small country, but this question requires additional study on the instruction of the President.