OREANDA-NEWS. On June 03, 2008 President Alexander Lukashenko met with Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky to discuss the preparation of the national budget of Belarus for the year 2009, reported the Official website http://president.gov.by.

The rate of the GDP growth is planned within the range of 10 to 12 per cent; inflation within the range of 9 to 11 per cent.

Budget revenues are expected to rise by 20 per cent from 2008. Alexander Lukashenko tasked the Government to optimise budget spending in 2009: the spending, according to him, should rise by no more than 10 per cent.

To boost further the national real production sector, the Government proposes cutting the tax burden on the economy by 1,2 per cent points as against GDP. As a result, companies will have in their possession additional Br 1,4 trillion.

In his State of the Nation Address to the Belarusian People and the National Assembly in April, Alexander Lukashenko tasked the Government to ensure that an average salary in the government sector in 2010 would amount to \\$ 700 in equivalent.

Navigating by this goal, by the end of 2008 an average salary in the government sector should approximate \\$ 430, by the end of 2009 \\$ 550. By the end of 2009 an average salary in the real production sector as a whole nation-wide should reach \\$ 600-630 in equivalent.