Economy and thrift are the main factors of the economic security of the state

Over the past decade, the Republic of Belarus has established an efficient and dynamically developing economy aimed at the steady growth in living standards and improvement in the quality of life of our citizens, protection of their material, social and cultural interests.

The policy stimulating the country’s innovation development is being persistently pursued. Modern social infrastructure has been formed during the period of independence.

Great work has been carried out to introduce energy and resource saving technologies in the republic which, after the break-up of the Soviet Union, had been left without energy sources and raw material resources.

As a result, the GDP growth in 1997-2006 was reached without an actual increase in the consumption of fuel and energy resources. Accompanied by other measures, it helped minimize the negative impact of oil and gas price hikes on economy, and, most important, avoid a fall in the living standards of our people.

At the same time, the fact that the country lacks an integrated system of material resource savings lowers the competitiveness of economy, the effectiveness of the use of all kinds of fuel, raw products, materials and equipment.

In this country, energy consumption per GDP is 1.5-2 times higher than in the developed countries with similar climatic conditions and economy’s structure. Material consumption in the domestic manufacturing sector is also high. Secondary resources and production wastes are used insufficiently.

Squandering and mismanagement are still persisting. CEOs of the bodies of state administration and other organizations do not exercise a proper control over providing appropriate storage facilities and rational use of fuel, energy and material resources, they sometimes fail to reveal the reserves that can help reduce energy and material consumption during production process.

The renewable sources of energy such as woods, water, wind, heat within the earth, solar energy and others are insufficiently exploited in the economic process.

At the same time, a thoughtless and sometimes callous attitude towards nature causes irreplaceable losses on it, which inevitably affect the quality of life of subsequent generations.

Please see the Russian version of this site for the full text of the Directive.