VITEBSK, 12 July (BelTA) – The Belarusian and Ukrainian Culture Ministries are interested in expanding cooperation. Culture Minister of Belarus Pavel Latushko met with his Ukrainian counterpart Mikhail Kulynyak in Vitebsk to discuss promising cooperation projects, BelTA learned from spokesperson for the Culture Ministry Anna Smolskaya. Particularly, the ministers focused on the prospects in education, museum and library science, the arrangement of guest performances of the Yanka Kupala...

MINSK, 11 July (BelTA) - President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko met with Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Rumas to receive his report on the country’s economic performance in H1, BelTA learnt from the press service of the Belarusian President. During thу period under review, the country's GDP grew by 11%. Productivity of labor and return on sales increased as well. In the five months from January to April export growth outpaced import growth. Belarus had a foreign trade surplus of $116...

MINSK, 11 July (BelTA) – The National Bank of Belarus increases the rate of refinancing by two percentage points to 20% per annum on 13 July 2011, BelTA learnt from the information department of the National Bank. The National Bank intends to implement a consistent interest rate policy aimed at gradually raising the general level of interest rates in the economy to help curb inflation and encourage saving processes in the country. The planned rise in interest rates will make the...

VITEBSK, 11 July (BelTA) - The bilateral trade between Belarus and Russia will exceed $40 billion in 2011, State Secretary of the Belarus-Russia Union State Pavel Borodin said as he met with Chairman of the Vitebsk Oblast Executive Committee Alexander Kosinets, BelTA has learned. “In Q1 2011 the bilateral trade between our countries made up $11 billion. At the end of the year it will exceed $40 billion,” Pavel Borodin said and added that Russia does not have such advanced economic...

SHKLOV, 7 July (BelTA) – Manufacturers should primarily rely on their own resources instead of expecting state support, said President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko as he visited the newsprint mill in Shklov on 7 July. The head of state stressed that manufacturers should strive to achieve success through improving their profitability, quality of their products and expanding the area of sales. “I don’t promise any support to anyone,” Alexander Lukashenko emphasized. “State...

MINSK, 7 July (BelTA) – Belarus’ gold and foreign exchange reserves increased by $557.7 million as determined by the IMF Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS). According to the preliminary data, as of 1 July 2011 it made up $4.1509 billion, BelTA learned from the Information Department of the National Bank. The gold and foreign exchange reserves of Belarus in national terms went up by $546.6 million to $5.650 billion as of 1 July 2011. The first $800 million tranche from the EurAsEC...