Economy minister urges local authorities to elaborate investment plans

Brest Oblast, like other regions, needs to specify and flesh out investment plans, Economy Minister Aleksandr Chervyakov said at a meeting of the Brest Oblast Executive Committee, BelTA has learned.

The participants of the meeting reviewed the results of the socio-economic development of Brest Oblast in 2022 and set the tasks for 2023. In 2022, fixed capital investments in the region amounted to Br3.8 billion, up by almost Br80 million over 2021. Today, fixed capital investments are viewed as a driver of economic growth. The task is to grow them by 21.2%. All in all, they should be increased up to Br5 billion. An investment portfolio worth more than Br900 million has been formed and approved.

Despite the ambitious plans, Aleksandr Chervyakov noted that over two years investments will grow by only 4%. “Therefore, the task is to make up for what we missed last year. Unfortunately, many in the regions cannot get access to investments, although we increased investments in housing by almost Br1 billion, in infrastructure by Br3.9 billion. Therefore, we agreed that within two weeks we will map out investment plans in construction and will substantiate them for the regions. I urge heads of the districts to pay attention to this matter and work out investment plans in detail,” the economy minister said.

He cited a food enterprise in one of the regions as an example. “They work in three shifts, they have orders for the next three months. They even need to build another production line. We have regions that do not have any serious investment projects. We could send more equipment there, create jobs, there are no problems with demand today and tomorrow, but for some reason we do not do it. Therefore, pay attention to those enterprises that are really busy today, work in three shifts, and which products are in demand - why not build up capacities there?” Aleksandr Chervyakov asked.

Deputy Head of the Belarus President Administration, President's Representative in Brest Oblast Maksim Yermolovich gave his take on this matter. “The growth rate of investments in the country as a whole, and in Brest Oblast in particular, is a matter of serious concern. The first thing to do is to restore optimal supply chains of raw materials for our manufacturing industry. We need to optimize costs. The second thing is, indeed, investments. First of all, these are investments in existing companies in order to help them scale up their operations and expand the assortment range. You need to carefully study the development strategies of the region's enterprises that you adopted 3-4 years ago, analyze how they are being implemented,” Maksim Yermolovich suggested.

In 2022, the gross regional product of Brest Oblast amounted to Br21.8 billion, down by about Br400 million, or 1.8%, over the previous year. The increase in gross value added was generated by the real sector of the economy, namely agriculture, forestry, fisheries (5%), mining (2.4%), as well as by certain types of services.