The House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the third convocation plans to adopt the budget bill of Belarus for 2009 at the final, autumn, session, Vice-Speaker of the lower house of the Belarusian parliament Sergei Zabolotets said at a session of the Council of the House on July 30. The Vice-Speaker said that the 9th session is also expected to consider the changes to the tax legislation. Sergei Zabolotets remarked, “a peculiar feature of the upcoming session is that it will...

Inflation in Belarus can reach 14% in 2008, Deputy Economy Minister of Belarus Tatiana Starchenko told reporters on July 30. According to her, the country will not manage to keep within the inflation projections. “We will not be able to stay below 10%. If the inflation in H2 will be at the level of H1, it will be good,” she said. Tatiana Starchenko informed that the agricultural industry has submitted proposals to raise prices in this sector to help agricultural companies stay in the...

In December 2008, the average monthly salary in Belarus should amount to Br966 thousand or $460. The salaries in the budget sector should average Br903 thousand or $430, First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko said at the session of the Council of Ministers of Belarus on July 29. The session was dedicated to the socio-economic development of the country in January-June 2008. The President of Belarus commissioned the government with the task to substantially increase the...

Belarus has harvested the first million tonnes of grain, BelTA learnt from the plant growing department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Foodstuffs. By the morning July 29 the agricultural companies of the country harvested 1.119 million tonnes of grain. With 366,000 tonnes, the Gomel oblast is the countrywide leader in terms of the gross grain output. It is followed by the Brest oblast (286,500 tonnes), Grodno (175,000 tonnes), Minsk (171,300 tonnes). The Mogilev oblast is approaching...

The Council of Ministers of Belarus will consider the socio-economic development of Belarus in January-June 2008 at a session on July 29. The session will be chaired by Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky, BelTA was old in the council of Ministers Office. In H1 the country met 15 out of 19 most important socio-economic development forecast. In January-May Belarus failed to restrict import of goods and services and to meet the volume of employment and GDP energy intensity targets. The...

A mass harvest campaign should be launched in all regions of the country tomorrow, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said after being given an update on the progress in the rural revival programme 2005-2010 by the Brest oblast executive committee. “Time is pressing. The crops have started ripening fast. It would be equal to a crime to fail to begin harvesting tomorrow. All equipment should be working in the fields tomorrow,” the head of state said. Alexander Lukashenko said...

The Hewlett-Packard Company is opening its representative office in Belarus. The office will be headed by Konstantin Leonov, the former aide to the HP director general for the CIS, BelTA learnt from the representative office. The decision to open a representative office in Belarus was prompted by the growing IT market and the increasing demand for high-tech equipment and IT-solutions in the country. Thus Belarus became the fourth CIS member state where Hewlett-Packard opened its...

The future of the Belarusian economy belongs to the innovation and science intensive production, Foreign Minister of Belarus Sergei Martynov said at a conference with heads of Belarusian diplomatic missions held on July 24. The goal of the conference is to analyze the work of the Belarusian diplomatic missions in the previous year and define the promising areas of activities for the coming year. “We should thoroughly discuss what we have done, what we have failed to do, what we have to...

Russian journalists will get familiar with the innovation development of Belarus during a press tour that will be held on July 30-August 1. The press tour is organized by the Permanent Committee of the Union State of Belarus and Russia and the National Press Centre of Belarus with the help of the Belarusian Embassy in Russia. Participating in the press tour will be 40 reporters working for the Russian and Belarusian central media, BelTA learnt from the Permanent Committee. The journalists...

Belarus and Venezuela are discussing new supplies of Belarusian machines, co-chairman of the Belarusian-Venezuelan intergovernmental commission Viktor Sheiman said during talks between the Belarusian and Venezuelan delegations on July 23. In his words, in January-May 2008 enterprises of the Belarusian Industry Ministry exported $11 million worth of commodities to Venezuela. In Q1 2008 MAZ, BelAZ and Amkodor completed machinery supplies. All in all, Venezuela received 254 vehicles made by...