CASE lectures "30th Anniversary of Economic Transformation in Poland - Conclusions for Belarus"
CASE, together with CASE Belarus and partners, has today launched a series of lectures in Minsk, Belarus, entitled "30th Anniversary of Economic Transformation in Poland - Conclusions for Belarus". The project aims to present key issues related to economic reforms in Poland - their origins, assumptions, implementation, and provide possible conclusions for Belarus.
Mr. Paweł Samecki, Member of the Management Board of the National Bank of Poland was the first lecturer. His speech focused on 30 years of economic transition in Central Europe.
In the following lectures, experts will discuss the key issues for the Belarusian economy: macroeconomic stabilization, fiscal policy, local government reform, financial market development and management of the state sector.
Within the framework of the project, CASE economists will also take part in two discussion panels during the Kastryčnicki Ekanamičny Forum, which will be held in Minsk from October 31st to November 1st, 2019.
Since 1991, Belarus has been performing poorly in the economic freedom index (Heritage Foundation) and in the index of the progress of economic transformation among 30 post-socialist countries (OECD). In 2017, economic freedom in Belarus was lower than in Poland in the first half of the 1990s.
Since 2015, the government in Minsk and the National Bank of Belarus have been taking steps that give hope for reforms, including slow and gradual but consistent action to maintain macroeconomic stability and economic liberalization. The Belarusian government admits that the country needs to deepen its reforms and is interested in other countries' transformation experiences (this comes, among others, from talks with the International Monetary Fund). The representatives of the Belarusian government mention in particular the following key areas of changes in the economy and social policy, which require special attention in the near future: increasing the efficiency of the state sector, strengthening the role of small and medium-sized enterprises, and reforming the pension system.
