Inflation in Belarus can reach 14% in 2008, Deputy Economy Minister of Belarus Tatiana Starchenko told reporters on July 30.

According to her, the country will not manage to keep within the inflation projections. “We will not be able to stay below 10%. If the inflation in H2 will be at the level of H1, it will be good,” she said.

Tatiana Starchenko informed that the agricultural industry has submitted proposals to raise prices in this sector to help agricultural companies stay in the black. “We will be studying the situation, calculating various scenarios. We will preserve the state price regulation in the housing and utilities services sector as this industry has a significant effect on the economy. I believe that today the state price regulation should remain in place. Yet we need to take a more cautious approach to the issue of loss-making companies,” she said.

A reminder, inflation in Belarus in H1 was at 7.3% fueled by outside factors such as growing energy and food prices. Some 3.4% of the inflation was generated by the food price growth, 2.2% housing and utilities services.

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