MINSK, 28 October (BelTA) - When the growth of the Belarusian economy becomes obvious, the World Bank changes its forecasts to save its face, Belarusian First Deputy Prime Minister Nikolai Snopkov said in an interview to Belarus 1 TV channel, BelTA has learned.
According to the World Bank forecasts, GDP in Belarus will increase by 4% in 2024, although the bank gave a much more modest forecast of a 1.2% growth in June 2024. The first deputy prime minister shared commented on the matter.
“This is a classic genre of international financial institutions: first they scare with stagnation and almost inflation, lower growth and living standards, and then, based on what they see in reality (and at the moment it is not difficult to calculate the obvious growth until the end of the year), in order to save face, they begin to change their forecasts,” Nikolai Snopkov said. “The real picture could be shown already at the beginning of the year. If they, using their models, initially give a forecast that does not correspond to reality, the question is whether we can believe them. Everyone is playing their own game, and what we should do is to continue develop gradually.”
