MINSK, August 9. /TASS/. Belarus preserved its economy by abandoning the idea of a curfew amid the pandemic, President Alexander Lukashenko said on Monday.
"We didn’t go crazy and didn’t impose a curfew as was demanded of us," he said.
Due to this, Lukashenko believes, it was possible to maintain the pace of economic development. "The foundation of what is happening in the economy in the first half of the year was laid when we did not stop the economy, when we did not force people into four walls, when we developed a clear approach to treating people: the outpatient stage, the clinical stage, and the sanatorium stage - providing rehabilitation for people," he added.
At the same time, he drew attention to the fact that this approach required rather large funds. "Name at least one rich state that chose this way, this is a lot of money, but people are more important," Lukashenko said.
Lukashenko also spoke about the emergency measures the state was taking in the fight against coronavirus. "Within a week we switched the economy to manufacturing means of protection," he said, adding that the surplus of such products had to be exported.
As a result, in conditions when "the decline in global GDP was colossal," the economy of Belarus lost only 0.1-0.2% in 2020, the president noted. "And today we have added 3.5% to this high level of 2020. These are good figures for us," he stressed.