OREANDA-NEWS. November 15, 2010. Around Br105 trillion will be invested in the economy of Belarus in the next five years, First Vice Premier of Belarus Vladimir Semashko said at a session of the National Council for Labor and Social issues.

This amount is four times higher as compared to the investments attracted during the period from 2006 to 2010. The investments into the enterprises affiliated with the Industry Ministry are projected to increase 10 times in the five years, stressed Vladimir Semashko.

Belarus needs to build “a large iron founding plant. This is very important for the Belarusian mechanical engineering,” Vladimir Semashko informed. The list of the largest and most important projects also features the construction of a facility to produce LCD panels. “This will also require huge investments,” Vladimir Semashko stressed. According to him, the Minsk Automobile Plant (MAZ) and Minsk Tractor Works (MTZ) are expected to increase the investments into their manufacturing capacities to USD 1 billion each. The key production assets will be upgraded in all sectors of the economy. “We need to accumulate working capital and simultaneously work on upgrading the industrial sector and strengthening discipline and order,” he said.

“The next five-year term targets are very ambitious,” the First Vice Premier said. The industrial growth is projected to reach 9-10% every year.

When speaking about the current state of industrial companies, Vladimir Semashko praised their advancement. Thus, MAZ increased the output by 10% in January-October this year though last year it suffered an almost 50% decline. MAZ also reported 14.8% profitability. The company has put its social facilities in order. The wages averaged Br1.785 million in September 2010 and will reach Br1.9 million by the end of the year.

Vladimir Semashko also praised the performance of the Belarusian Auto Works (BelAZ). For the company this year “was successful in terms of sales and profitability,” Vladimir Semashko noted.

In January-October 2010 Belarus' industrial growth is expected to reach 10.5%, First Vice-Premier said.

“Business plans of industrial enterprises allow us to project that by the end of 2010 the growth rate of industrial production will be at the level of 11-12%, closer to 13%,” the First Vice-Premier said. “We are moving along the planned trajectory towards industrial production growth target which was set in early 2010,” Vladimir Semashko said.

At the same time, the pace of agricultural production is lagging behind the projections. Therefore, there is a need to look for opportunities to make up for the losses in this industry.

Vladimir Semashko also said that the Belarusian economy is on its way out of the crisis, and now all efforts are being made “to smoothly enter a new five-year plan”. During the period up to 2015 Belarus is set to increase its GDP by 62-68% over 2006-2010.