Belarus needs to strive to join the group of high-income countries, stated Prime Minister Andrei Kobyakov on the air of the program "Actual Interview" on the Belarus 1 TV channel, BELTA reports.
Andrei Kobyakov stated that serious work needs to be done in the economy to improve the wages of citizens whose earnings are below the national average. "But we must not find ourselves in a situation where we are complacent. We must constantly strive, work, and seek development directions in order not to slow down and to join the group of high-income countries. Although we should not stop there either," the Prime Minister is confident.
"We must understand that there are entire countries that we are ahead of, but there are also many states that are ahead of us in terms of material production, innovation, and the science intensity of their economies. We have room to strive and countries to catch up with," Andrei Kobyakov emphasized.
The Prime Minister noted that in 2018, the country's economy should be growing. The projected GDP growth rate is 103.5%. "We are a developing economy. And one of the problems faced by such economies is the middle-income trap, when citizens and economic authorities become complacent with their results and believe they have reached the limits of their aspirations. This should not happen," he concluded.