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World Bank Expert: Belarus Is 40 Years Behind Germany

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World Bank Expert: Belarus Is 40 Years Behind Germany

There's an urgent need for reforms to attract investments in our country.

One-third of per capita income in Germany is equal to the current per capita income of Belarus. That is, with an average growth rate of the Belarusian economy of 2.5%, it will take 40 years for our country to possibly reach the current German level.

Such an opinion was expressed at the October Economic Forum by World Bank’s Global Practice Manager Gallina Andronova Vincelette, Radio Svaboda reports.

Belarus’s economic growth must accelerate, she believes. It is therefore important to solve two tasks: to deal with inefficiency in the sector of state enterprises and dynamically develop the private sector.

“In 2013, 7% of state-owned enterprises were unprofitable, and after 5 years, by the summer of 2018, this figure had doubled – now 14% of state-owned enterprises are unprofitable. During this period, the arrears of these enterprises had also doubled – from 4% of GDP to 10%. That is, these are the chronic features of state-owned enterprises that have impacts on the financial system and on the budget. This could result in an increase of the public debt,” – the World Bank manager warned.

She proposed to strengthen the budgetary limitations for state-owned enterprises and to stop lending in foreign currency. And to continue reforms to attract investment.

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