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Prime minister promises support to private companies that help reduce imports

 

The Belarusian government will continue offering support to the development of small and medium-sized private enterprises that are involved in import substitution programs, Prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich said during his tour of the Minsk district on July 20.

Belarus imports many products that could be manufactured by small private companies inside the country, Mr. Myasnikovich stressed. “The central government together with local authorities will provide every kind of support to them, create necessary conditions for the development of such enterprises,” the Council of Ministers’ press office quoted him as saying.

Large manufacturers could buy much of their materials and components from small domestic makers, he said.

There are few such businesses in Belarus at present, the prime minister acknowledged. “At the same time, buying components for equipment manufacture from small companies involved in the general production cycle is a global trend,” he was quoted as saying.

Mr. Myasnikovich promised that the industry and health ministries would provide assistance to such businesses.

The contribution of such companies to economic development is underrated, the prime minister said, predicting that “in the future such companies will form the basis of the economy, without harming our large enterprises but complementing them and creating competition to a certain extent.”

The share of the private sector in Belarus’ Gross Domestic Product increased from 53.1 to 64.9 percent between 2007 and 2011. Small and medium-sized enterprises accounted for 21.7 percent of the country’s GDP last year, according to the press office. // BelaPAN