OREANDA-NEWS. The budget plan is based on expectations that Belarusian exports will grow by 11.6%, with the total value of investments seen at USD 4.5 billion, including FDI - at least USD 2.5 billion, the minister informed.

One of the features of the new budget plan is the new tax payable by vehicle owners for access to motorway traffic. Proceeds from the new incarnation of the transport tax will go to finance motorway construction projects.

All in all, the budget plan suggests reducing the tax burden by 1.6% in 2014. VAT proceeds are expected to account for 32.2% of total budget revenues.

The budget bill suggests raising excise rates for strong alcohol (by 27.3%), tobaccos (by 24-56%), motor fuel (by 14.5%).

Moscow and Minsk have to estimate the consequences of introducing a common currency of the joint state of Belarus and Russia, Russia's Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev said on Friday following a meeting with Belarus' Prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich.

“Any currency union, the switch to a unified currency implies the maximum level of integration. It should probably be done at the latest step, after all consequences are calculated,” Medvedev said.

Myasnikovich has supported Medvedev, but added that trade between the countries and the trading on the Belarus Stock Exchange are done in Russian rubles. The Belarusian premier accentuated the point that all transactions between Belarus and Russia at the Belarusian Foreign Exchange are settled in Russian rubles, which a step or several steps towards building a currency union.