MINSK, April 19 (Xinhua) -- World Bank on Thursday updated Belarus' economic growth forecast to 2.9 percent this year.

According to World Bank Economic Update on Belarus, the country's GDP is projected to expand by 2.9 percent in 2018, 2.7 percent in 2019 and 2.5 percent in 2020 respectively.

Earlier, World Bank predicted that the Belarusian economy will grow by 2.1 percent in 2018, 2.4 percent in 2019 and 2.4 percent in 2020 respectively.

The Bank's specialists associate the correction of its forecast with the improvement in the countries - main trading partners and the growth of prices for raw materials, which contributed to the restoration of the growth of the Belarusian economy in 2017 due to the positive dynamics in the industrial sector.

Analysts also believe the growth of real wages and investments in the public sector contributed to the restoration of domestic demand.

In the medium term, the challenges for the economy are related to the need to attract external financing and resolve internal structural vulnerabilities.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has also revised its forecast on Belarus. The IMF said that Belarus' GDP will grow by 2.8 percent in 2018 and by 2.4 percent in 2019.