As part of the former Soviet Union, Belarus had a relatively well-developed industrial base, but it is now outdated, inefficient, and dependent on subsidized Russian energy and preferential access to Russian markets. The country's agricultural base is largely dependent on government subsidies. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, an initial burst of economic reforms included privatization of state enterprises, creation of private property rights, and the acceptance of private entrepreneurship, but by 1994 the reform effort dissipated. About 80% of industry remains in state hands, and foreign investment has virtually disappeared. Several businesses have been renationalized. State-owned entities account for 70-75% of GDP, and state banks make up 75% of the banking sector. ++ Economic output declined for several years following the break-up of the Soviet Union, but revived in the mid-2000s. Belarus has only small reserves of crude oil and imports crude oil and natural gas from Russia at subsidized, below market, prices. Belarus derives export revenue by refining Russian crude and selling it at market prices. Russia and Belarus have had serious disagreements over prices and quantities for Russian energy. Beginning in early 2016, Russia claimed Belarus began accumulating debt – reaching $740 million by April 2017 – for paying below the agreed price for Russian natural gas and Russia cut back its export of crude oil as a result of the debt. In April 2017, Belarus agreed to pay its gas debt and Russia restored the flow of crude. ++ New non-Russian foreign investment has been limited in recent years, largely because of an unfavorable financial climate. In 2011, a financial crisis lead to a nearly three-fold devaluation of the Belarusian ruble. The Belarusian economy has continued to struggle under the weight of high external debt servicing payments and a trade deficit. In mid-December 2014, the devaluation of the Russian ruble triggered a near 40% devaluation of the Belarusian ruble. ++ Belarus's economy stagnated between 2012 and 2016, widening productivity and income gaps between Belarus and neighboring countries. Budget revenues dropped because of falling global prices on key Belarusian export commodities. Since 2015, the Belarusian government has tightened its macro-economic policies, allowed more flexibility to its exchange rate, taken some steps towards price liberalization, and reduced subsidized government lending to state-owned enterprises. Belarus returned to modest growth in 2017, largely driven by improvement of external conditions and Belarus issued sovereign debt for the first time since 2011, which provided the country with badly-needed liquidity, and issued $600 million worth of Eurobonds in February 2018, predominantly to US and British investors.

Fitch rating: B (2018)

Moody's rating: B3 (2018)

Standard & Poors rating: B (2017)

grain, potatoes, vegetables, sugar beets, flax; beef, milk

metal-cutting machine tools, tractors, trucks, earthmovers, motorcycles, synthetic fibers, fertilizer, textiles, refrigerators, washing machines and other household appliances

calendar year

Russia 43.9%, Ukraine 11.5%, UK 8.2% (2017)

machinery and equipment, mineral products, chemicals, metals, textiles, foodstuffs

mineral products, machinery and equipment, chemicals, foodstuffs, metals

Russia 57.2%, China 8%, Germany 5.1% (2017)

Belarusian rubles (BYB/BYR) per US dollar -

general assessment: govt. and telecom regulator have plans to develop the telecom sector for the migration to 5G; Chinese company Huawei have started 5G trials to deliver data at 2Gb/s; fiber network reaches two million establishments; 10,000km of fiber cabling laid; August 2018 almost two million GPON connections (Gigabit Passive Optical Network, point-to-multi point access mechanism); Belarus launched its first telecoms satellite in 2016; LTE use reaches 75% of mobile subscribers (2020)

domestic: fixed-line teledensity is improving although rural areas continue to be underserved, 48 per 100 fixed-line; mobile-cellular teledensity now approaches 123 telephones per 100 persons (2019)

international: country code - 375; Belarus is landlocked and therefore a member of the Trans-European Line (TEL), Trans-Asia-Europe (TAE) fiber-optic line, and has access to the Trans-Siberia Line (TSL); 3 fiber-optic segments provide connectivity to Latvia, Poland, Russia, and Ukraine; worldwide service is available to Belarus through this infrastructure; additional analog lines to Russia; Intelsat, Eutelsat, and Intersputnik earth stations; almost 31,000 base stations in service in 2019 (2020)

7 state-controlled national TV channels; Polish and Russian TV broadcasts are available in some areas; state-run Belarusian Radio operates 5 national networks and an external service; Russian and Polish radio broadcasts are available (2019)

.by

EW (2016)

5386 km gas, 1589 km oil, 1730 km refined products (2013)

by type: other 4 (2019)

河港: Mazyr (Prypyats')