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Belarus should not abandon high targets for housing construction, says National Bank head

Belarus should not abandon high targets for the construction of housing, Pyotr Prakapovich, head of the National Bank, told reporters on Thursday.

Housing totaling eight million square meters is to be built in 2010 under the “target” outlook for social and economic development next year, or two million square meters more than in 2009, Mr. Prakapovich said.

Under the base outlook, a total of 6.2 million square meters of housing is to be completed in 2010.

According to Mr. Prakapovich, he intends to press for the higher target to be adopted. The country has everything necessary to meet this target and there is no reason to abandon it, he said.

The construction of housing will help economic growth to be restored rapidly starting 2010 and give a powerful impetus to the development of the economy, Mr. Prakapovich said. Growth will otherwise slow down or stop, he warned.

The global financial crisis has not affected Belarus, Mr. Prakapovich said. Instead of declining, housing construction in the country is on the increase, he noted.

"The crisis is where tower cranes are idling," he said. "Ours are operating."

The crisis has not impacted domestic demand and is limited to foreign trade, Mr. Prakapovich said.

Belarus' exports have drastically decreased because demand in foreign countries has fallen, but this is a problem beyond Belarus’ control, Mr. Prakapovich said.

As for the accessibility of low-interest loans for housing construction, Belarusbank has sufficient resources to fully meet the demand for such loans in both 2009 and 2010, he said.

Belarus plans to build 10 million square meters of housing in 2011, or one square meter per capital, which would make the country one of the world's leaders in this regard, Mr. Prakapovich said. //BelaPAN