Belarusian budget to lose half billion dollars

The state budget will lose about half a billion dollars this year due to a fall in oil prices.

The statement was made by Maksim Yernalovich, the first deputy minister of finance, in the programme “Glavny Efir” on Belarus 1 TV, BelaPAN reports.

According to him, budget revenues were expected to be more than 1.5 billion dollars with an estimated oil price of $83 a barrel. The expected oil price now is 50-55 dollars a barrel, so the expected revenues to the budget will only be one billion dollars.

The government plans to get additional incomes after the removing of tariff and non-tariff barriers in the Eurasian Economic Union. According to the research initiated by the Ministry of Finance, Belarus's GDP will increase 2.8% and people's wealth will raise 7.3%.

The government does not plan to cut expenses on social needs, but expenses on state-funded organisations will be reduced 5%.