Изображение: Нацбанк
The National Bank sees the task of catching up with Russia in terms of GDP per capita, First Deputy Chairman of the National Bank Board Aliaksandr Yahorau said while commenting on the tasks facing the financial sector this year.
“An important condition is the internal conditions of the economy’s functioning and their impact on financial stability. Here, a number of factors can be noted. First of all, this is the significant growth in investment in 2025. Perhaps this does not create substantial economic growth in 2025 itself, but it creates prerequisites for long-term growth in the five-year period of 2026–2030, because without investment growth there will be no growth in GDP per capita, that is, no growth in citizens’ welfare. And our main task is precisely to move closer in terms of GDP per capita to our partner countries in the Eurasian Economic Union, above all our main trading partner, the Russian Federation.
And we will pay attention to ensuring that growth is balanced. But even if it is balanced, growth must still be growth, it must contribute to convergence with neighboring countries,” he said.
According to IMF data, Belarus’s nominal GDP per capita stands at $9,435, while Russia’s is $17,446, Kazakhstan’s $14,723, Armenia’s $8,969, and Kyrgyzstan’s $2,790.
In terms of GDP per capita at purchasing power parity, the figure for Belarus is $33,006, for Russia $47,405, for Armenia $14,770, for Kazakhstan $40,813, and for Kyrgyzstan $8,009.
Yahorau also noted an increase in the country’s gold and foreign exchange reserves.
“Financial stability from the standpoint of external conditions. What can be noted here? First of all, this is the significant growth of gold and foreign exchange reserves, which was ensured not only by the revaluation of gold, but also by the purchase of foreign currency by the National Bank on the domestic market. And what is encouraging is that recently we have been paying great attention to indicators of the international investment position, and if it is adjusted for foreign direct investment — that is, excluding it and looking only at debt sources — then for the first time in our entire history we have reached a level of less than minus $1 billion. That is, our assets are practically equal to our liabilities. This characterizes our financial stability well and indicates that we have a large safety cushion, which will also contribute to the pursuit of a proactive and independent economic policy,” he said.
According to Yahorau, there are currently no risks to financial stability.
“Here it can be noted that both in terms of credit risk, liquidity risk, and financial risks, we do not see any serious shocks; we see a fairly stable situation. There are certain issues related to the functioning of individual enterprises in the real sector, and we are orienting banks toward a prudent and conservative approach to credit risk assessment, especially for those enterprises where there is a decline in net profit and EBITDA indicators, so that this does not create prerequisites for risks for the banking sector itself in the future.
And, of course, from the standpoint of financial stability, banks must pay great attention to issues of digital sovereignty and the implementation of IT solutions. Because either we will implement these solutions ourselves, or our citizens will use financial services in other countries where such solutions are implemented. Therefore, special attention will be paid to this issue as well,” he added.