In Belarus, the economy remains dependent on imports - KGC
17/08/20110 views
17 August, Minsk /Lilia Krapivina - BELTA/. Belarus's economy remains dependent on imports. This was stated today by Chairman of the Committee of State Control Alexander Yakobson at a meeting of the CSC, where the situation with import purchases and import substitution issues was analysed, BELTA correspondent reports.
The analysis showed that the economy's dependence on imports persists. Imports account for almost one-third of production costs in terms of raw materials, materials, components, and fuel. According to the results of the first quarter of 2011, the foreign trade balance worsened compared to the corresponding period of last year, stated Alexander Yakobson. He acknowledged that 73% of imports are intermediate goods. "Yes, we have a large volume of intermediate imports, this is a specific feature of our commodity structure, we do not have our own energy resources," he noted. Energy imports account for almost half of the intermediate imports. This is an objective factor, noted the Chairman of the CSC. However, if this energy component is excluded, a negative foreign trade balance in goods remains, which amounted to $650 million in the first quarter. Thus, the arguments of some importers that the negative balance is due to energy goods are unconvincing. In the first quarter, import intensity increased again by 0.6 percentage points, noted the head of the CSC.
Analysis of enterprises' import procurement activities has shown that organisations of communal ownership are more effective in achieving a positive foreign trade balance. Although it should be noted that their production volumes are not as high as those of enterprises under republican ownership. The import situation is also more or less normal for enterprises without departmental ownership. However, for enterprises under republican ownership, the results in reducing imports and import substitution are "still very unconvincing," said Alexander Yakobson. In his opinion, many managers still have not grasped this problem, "and sometimes they are simply afraid to tackle it." "Managers are not geared towards this problem, they fear it and do not engage with it," believes Alexander Yakobson. He cited the Braslav Bakery as an example, where out of a capacity of 47 tonnes of bread per day, only 7 tonnes are produced. The enterprise has a lot of unused space. The plant's management believes that there is no imported component in their bread production, completely disregarding the use of imported energy resources. Furthermore, this bakery does not attempt to export its products, and no export targets are communicated to it. Meanwhile, there are many examples in Belarus of other bread producers that successfully export their products.
Another fact revealed by the Committee of State Control when analysing the import situation is that in the first half of the year, the foreign trade balance in free economic zones was negative, reaching almost $60 million. "This undermines the very idea of FEZs," believes the head of the CSC, as free economic zones are specifically intended to focus on exports. According to Alexander Yakobson's assessment, if our producers continue to buy more than they sell, it resembles futile work, believes the committee chairman.
He also emphasised that the Committee of State Control, which consistently pays great attention to solving this problem, will not remove it from its control until a positive trend is observed. -0-
BELTA