OREANDA-NEWS On 06 October was announced, that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko hopes Belarusian GDP will grow 1.5%-2% in 2009 and notes positive processes in reduction of inventories.

“We have no crisis, I mean, we should not speculate about it. The crisis means insufficient demand for our products, besides, Russia has created additional problems by blocking our supplies,” Lukashenko said.

Lukashenko spoke about a revival in the economy, including heavy engineering. 

He admitted that GDP contracted 0.5% in January-August, mostly because of the performance of state-owned manufacturers. Lukashenko said: “If we have a 1.5%-2% growth this year amid the global recession, it would be an excellent result. We are pursuing a rigid policy now – we must not work only to fill warehouses.” 

“We used to have excess farm produce in stocks, we couldn’t sell sugar, but now we see a good demand for sugar, Ukraine wants to import our meat and dairy products. Russians used to wage a milk war on us, but now they forecast shortages of milk on their market and ask us to sell more,” Lukashenko said. 

“I had warned Putin that we should not be at war in May or June, during the peak months for milk, as we were into seasonal shortages in late autumn and winter. We are of course ready to sell to Russians, and I told the minister ‘You can milk anyone you wish, but if Russians are asking, we have to give it to them’.”