controls over prices and currency exchange rates and expanded the
state's right to intervene in the management of private enterprises.
In addition, businesses have been subject to pressure on the part of
central and local governments, e.g., arbitrary changes in
regulations, numerous rigorous inspections, retroactive application
of new business regulations, and arrests of "disruptive" businessmen
and factory owners. A wide range of redistributive policies has
helped those at the bottom of the ladder. For the time being,
Belarus remains self-isolated from the West and its open-market
economies.
GDP:
purchasing power parity - $62.56 billion (2003 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
6.8% (2003 est.)
GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $6,100 (2003 est.)
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 11.1% industry: 36.4% services: 52.5% (2003 est.)
Investment (gross fixed):
21.7% of GDP (2003)
Population below poverty line:
22% (1995 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 5.1% highest 10%: 20% (1998)
Distribution of family income - Gini index:
21.7 (1998)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
28.2% (2003 est.)
Labor force:
4.8 million (2000 est.)
Labor force - by occupation:
NA
Unemployment rate:
2.1% officially registered unemployed (December 2000); large number
of underemployed workers (2003 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $2.976 billion
expenditures: $3.211 billion, including capital expenditures of $180
million (2003 est.)
Agriculture - products:
grain, potatoes, vegetables, sugar beets, flax; beef, milk
Industries:
metal-cutting machine tools, tractors, trucks, earthmovers,
motorcycles, television sets, chemical fibers, fertilizer, textiles,
radios, refrigerators
Industrial production growth rate:
5% (2003 est.)
Electricity - production:
24.4 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - consumption:
26.69 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - exports:
300 million kWh (2001)
Electricity - imports:
4.3 billion kWh (2001)
Oil - production:
37,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - consumption:
230,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - exports:
NA (2001)
Oil - imports:
NA (2001)
Natural gas - production:
200 million cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - consumption:
18 billion cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - exports:
0 cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - imports:
17.8 billion cu m (2001 est.)
Current account balance:
$-945 million (2003)
Exports:
$9.413 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)
Exports - commodities:
machinery and equipment, mineral products, chemicals, metals;
textiles, foodstuffs
Exports - partners:
Russia 49.1%, UK 9.4%, Poland 4.4%, Germany 4.2%, Netherlands 4.2%
(2003)
Imports:
$11.09 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)
Imports - commodities:
mineral products, machinery and equipment, chemicals, foodstuffs,
metals
Imports - partners:
Russia 65.8%, Germany 7.1%, Ukraine 3.1% (2003)
Reserves of foreign exchange & gold:
$637 million (2003)
Debt - external:
$851 million (2001 est.)
Economic aid - recipient:
$194.3 million (1995)
Currency:
Belarusian ruble (BYB/BYR)
Currency code:
BYB/BYR
Exchange rates:
Belarusian rubles per US dollar - 1,790.92 (2003), 1,920 (2002),
1,390 (2001), 876.75 (2000), 248.795 (1999)
Fiscal year:
calendar year
Communications Belarus
Telephones - main lines in use:
3,071,300 (2003)
Telephones - mobile cellular:
1.118 million (2003)
Telephone system:
general assessment: the Ministry of Telecommunications controls all
telecommunications through its carrier (a joint stock company)
Beltelcom which is a monopoly
domestic: local - Minsk has a digital metropolitan network and a
cellular NMT-450 network; waiting lists for telephones are long;
local service outside Minsk is neglected and poor; intercity -
Belarus has a partly developed fiber-optic backbone system presently
serving at least 13 major cities (1998); Belarus' fiber optics form
synchronous digital hierarchy rings through other countries'
systems; an inadequate analog system remains operational
international: country code - 375; Belarus is a member of the
Trans-European Line (TEL), Trans-Asia-Europe (TAE) fiber-optic line,
and has access to the Trans-Siberia Line (TSL); three 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
Radio broadcast stations: