Republic

Alexander Lukashenko wants the demand of economic entities and population for loans satisfied in full

The main targets of the banking system development in Q1 2007 were met, Chairman of the Board of the National Bank of Belarus Piotr Prokopovich reported to the President on May 15. The Head of State demanded the main guidelines of the monetary policy of Belarus should be implemented in 2007, BelTA has been told in the president’s press service. At the same time Alexander Lukashenko pointed to the necessity to make sure that the demand of the real sector and population for loans be satisfied in full in order to meet all the targets of the socio-economic development of Belarus. In this connection the National Bank will consider issues on boosting crediting of the real sector and extending the banking resource base. In Q1 2007 the economic crediting soared by 41.9% as against same time last year. The Head of State demanded the high growth rates be kept by the end of the year. Piotr Prokopovich informed Alexander Lukashenko on the progress in the implementation of the instructions concerning housing construction in Belarus (this sector of economy is supervised by the head of the National Bank). This year, housing completions will grow by 500 thousand square meters from 2006. The number of apartments for the people on the waiting list will boost this year. President Alexander Lukashenko said that the efforts should be taken to reduce the price of housing construction and to introduce energy-saving technology in residential construction. The President noted the necessity to use advanced technologies and to fit every apartment with heating regulators. The Government and the National Bank will report to the Head of State on the progress in addressing these issues by August 1. The prospects of using the Chinese experience on using thermal energy to heat houses were also discussed during the meeting. The President instructed to carry out an experiment to build several residential areas in Minsk and Brest where the energy of underground waters will be used for heating. The Belarusian side has already been negotiating the issue with the Chinese companies and plans to start the projects in 2007. If the experiment is successful such technologies will be employed countrywide, he added. The President was also informed about the work of the National Bank on the village revival program and on the activity of the agricultural companies which are supervised by the leading financial institution of the country. In Q1 all agricultural companies reported a 42% increase in sales proceeds. The President demanded that these companies should reach the level of the most advanced companies of Belarus in a short period of time. In this respect a special attention will be attached to the reduction of production costs and improvement of economic indices.