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Belarus Economy 1996
Belarus ranks among the most developed of the former Soviet states, with a
relatively modern - by Soviet standards - and diverse machine building
sector and a robust agriculture sector. It also serves as a transport link
for Russian oil exports to the Baltic states and Eastern and Western Europe.
The breakup of the Soviet Union and its command economy has resulted in a
sharp economic contraction as traditional trade ties have collapsed. The
Belarusian government has lagged behind the governments of most other former
Soviet states in economic reform, with privatization almost nonexistent. The
system of state orders and distribution persists. In mid-1994, the
Belarusian government embarked on an austerity program with IMF support to
slash state credits and consumer subsidies in order to bring down the budget
deficit and reduce inflation. However, despite its promising start, the
regime's drive to reinvigorate the economy has fallen short, and the IMF has
criticized its failure to implement the reforms that the Fund had
negotiated. As a result, the IMF has suspended talks on introducing a
stand-by arrangement. Economic relations with Russia, which will have an
important bearing on the future course of the economy, will be strengthened
if Minsk adopts the necessary legislation to implement a customs union
agreed to in January 1995.
GDP - purchasing power parity - $53.4 billion (1994 estimate as extrapolated
from World Bank estimate for 1992)
-
National product real growth rate:
-
National product per capita:
-
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
1.4% officially registered unemployed (December 1993); large numbers of
underemployed workers
$NA, including capital expenditures of $NA
$968 million to outside of the FSU countries (f.o.b., 1994)
machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, foodstuffs
Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Bulgaria
$534 million from outside the FSU countries (c.i.f., 1994)
fuel, natural gas, industrial raw materials, textiles, sugar
$1.5 billion (July 1994 est.)
growth rate -19% (1994); accounts for about 40% of GDP (1992)
employ about 40% of labor force and produced a wide variety of products
including (in percent share of total output of former Soviet Union):
tractors (12%); metal-cutting machine tools (11%); off-highway dump trucks
up to 110-metric-ton load capacity (100%); wheel-type earthmovers for
construction and mining (100%); eight-wheel-drive, high-flotation trucks
with cargo capacity of 25 metric tons for use in tundra and roadless areas
(100%); equipment for animal husbandry and livestock feeding (25%);
motorcycles (21.3%); television sets (11%); chemical fibers (28%);
fertilizer (18%); linen fabric (11%); wool fabric (7%); radios;
refrigerators; and other consumer goods
accounts for almost 25% of GDP and 5.7% of total agricultural output of
former Soviet Union; employs 21% of the labor force; in 1988 produced the
following (in percent of total Soviet production): grain (3.6%), potatoes
(12.2%), vegetables (3.0%), meat (6.0%), milk (7.0%); net exporter of meat,
milk, eggs, flour, potatoes
illicit cultivator of opium poppy and cannabis; mostly for the domestic
market; transshipment point for illicit drugs to Western Europe
Belarusian rubels per US$1 - 10,600 (end December 1994)
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