OREANDA-NEWS. November 18, 2009. The Belarusian government expects gross domestic product in 2009 to remain at the 2008 level, and inflation rate within 11%, the press service of the president reported after the October 30 meeting that addressed the country’s socioeconomic performance in January-September 2009.

According to Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky, the situation in the manufacturing sector has improved; inventories decreased by 1.2 trillion Belarusian rubles (Br) to 6.2 trillion rubles as of October 1.

Sidorsky said budget expenditures to finance social programs met the target in January-September. Support for the real economy reached 2.6 trillion rubles. He underlined that there were no mass dismissals in the first three quarters, and no dismissals were expected.

In turn, President Alexander Lukashenko admitted that the instruments the country was using during the favorable period were hardly working in conditions of the global crisis.