External factors fuel inflation in Belarus: government

The rate of inflation in Belarus is affected by external factors, namely the soaring price on the neighboring markets, Belarusian vice prime minister Andrei Kabyakou said in a statement. "If we make a pricing oasis, we will get in return a shortage of numeorus goods", he explained. Kabyakou also added that some commodities in Belarus were still 2-2.5 times cheaper than in the neighboring countries. "We passed through this back in 1998", the vice prime minister noted.

The government has set the inflation rate forecast at 10 percent in 2008, reports Interfax