Economy Overview:

    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.


National product:
    GDP - purchasing power parity - $53.4 billion (1994 estimate as extrapolated
    from World Bank estimate for 1992)
National product real growth rate:
    -20% (1994)
National product per capita:
    $5,130 (1994 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
    29% per month (1994)
Unemployment rate:
    1.4% officially registered unemployed (December 1993); large numbers of
    underemployed workers
Budget:
  revenues:
    $NA
  expenditures:
    $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA


Industrial production:

    growth rate -19% (1994); accounts for about 40% of GDP (1992)
Electricity:
  capacity:
    7,010,000 kW
  production:
    31.4 billion kWh


  consumption per capita:
    3,010 kWh (1994)


Economic Activity

Industries:

    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
Agriculture:
    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

Exports:

    $968 million to outside of the FSU countries (f.o.b., 1994)
  Commodities:
    machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, foodstuffs
   Major Trade Partners::
    Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Bulgaria


Imports:

    $534 million from outside the FSU countries (c.i.f., 1994)
  Commodities:
    fuel, natural gas, industrial raw materials, textiles, sugar
   Major Trade Partners::
    Russia, Ukraine, Poland
External debt:
    $1.5 billion (July 1994 est.)