Shpakovsky: opponents predicted a decline in the Belarusian economy by 20%, but growth exceeded 4%

On the eve of the CSTO summit, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko met in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The leaders discussed the Union agenda and international issues, noting the indicators of trade turnover and a high level of security. About how the sanctions pushed Minsk and Moscow to rapprochement, in the talk show “Budni” on the YouTube channel “SBTV” and “Alfa Radio” explained the Deputy of the house of representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Shpakovsky, reports sb.by.

According to him, the situation should be assessed taking into account all factors - there are conditions that allow us to demonstrate positive results today:

- There are a number of prerequisites that allow us to demonstrate such positive results today. If we talk about last year’s volumes of mutual trade in goods and services, this figure is above $ 60 billion, and this is despite certain discrepancies in statistics between our agencies and those of our allies, Russia. Now, in an interview with Russian Ambassador to Belarus Boris Gryzlov to the National Defense magazine, the figure of $70 billion for goods was named. Of course, chickens in autumn believe that we will sum up the results at the beginning of next year, but at the talks between the two presidents it was said that trade turnover grew by 20%. This is a very serious upturn, especially considering that at the beginning of the year there was a certain slowdown in Belarusian-Russian trade. I remember various venerable economists assuring us that we had reached the ceiling, that the Russian market was cooling and that we could not grow any further. But the Head of State spoke directly at a principled meeting with members of the Government about the crisis trends in the first quarter. And now we're in the 2% growth range. The president always puts the bar above targets - as an experienced coach, he sets ambitious goals. In the Belarusian-Russian trade, we see such results.

The parliamentarian stressed that the Russian market is key for Belarus, nothing will ever replace it

- This does not negate the need to work with the countries of the far arc and diversify export flows. The President’s demands to maintain positions in the European market and use all opportunities to promote domestic exports remain in force. But the Russian market is the main one. The roadmaps that have been agreed have been successfully implemented and we are moving to a higher level. This cumulative effect has produced results. One should not give in to alarmist forecasts and blindly trust expert assessments, even if they are expressed by patriotic people. It’s better to explain why the project won’t work.

Speaking about sanctions, Shpakovsky noted that in 2022, when they were fully operational, opponents meticulously considered which industries bring Belarus the greatest profit:

- They began to threaten partners with secondary sanctions and block foreign trade operations. Of course, it was a shock to the economy. We were squeezed out of European markets, we fell by more than 4%. Opponents were euphoric, forecasts were published about the fall of the Belarusian economy by almost 20%. In 2023-2024, we showed an increase of more than 4%, and this rate is higher than the world average. In 2026, the indicators will be better than in 2025. At the heart of this success is mutual complementarity and cooperation with Russia. We are always among the top 3-5 leading trade and economic partners of Russia. This came as an unpleasant surprise for the opponents: they had to state that the Belarusian economy had adapted to the sanctions pressure.

The common threat has prompted Moscow and Minsk to seek effective solutions

- We have not discussed disputes between business entities in the media for more than 5-6 years. They exist, they cannot be without such volumes of trade. But these issues are solved in the silence of offices at the level of specialized specialists. The trends are positive. This is because the Belarusian president was right. He has repeatedly told Russian political circles that the time will come and we will fight back to back with Vladimir Vladimirovich against those who would like to bring us to our knees. That time has come. We're acting right. And those who approached relations with Belarus exclusively in an accounting manner, with a calculator, many left the Russian Federation in this year of trials. Now they continue to click, fortunately, mistakenly.

The talk show “Budney” is released on weekdays in the morning on “Alpha Radio”. Each issue discusses the most relevant topics from the life of the country and the world. Political scientists, scientists, public figures and journalists of leading media participate in the discussions. See the full version of the program on the VIDEOBEL.BY website and on the SBTV YouTube channel.