Belarus News
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ALBANIA, 2016/01/02
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AFGHANISTAN, 2016/01/02
World economic increase will be disappointing next year and the outlook for the medium-term has as well deteriorated, the chief of the International Monetary Fund said in a guest article for German newspaper Handelsblatt published on Wednesday.
IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said the prospect of rising interest rates in the United States and an economic slowdown in China were contributing to uncertainty and a higher risk of economic vulnerability worldwide.
Added to that, increase in world trade has slowed considerably and a decline in raw material prices is posing problems for economies based on these, while the financial sector in a lot of nations still has weaknesses and financial risks are rising in emerging markets, she said.
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AFGHANISTAN, 2015/12/03
The newly created Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) has in a little while got the momentum as an economic hub for the nations of the region. The EEU includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia as its members, whereas; the Organization is a continuation of contemplation for establishing the integration projects by the Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia since 2007.
The Organization fundamentally promotes the ideas of streamlining the flow and transportation of services and goods between the member states, therefore, it greatly attracts the interests of a lot of stakeholders and according to the Russian Ministry of Economic Development, a lot of international organizations and the economic giants like China has shown great interest in the creation of free trade zones through the EEU.
The present political and economic importance of the South and Central Asian region along with free trade and economic potential across the Eurasian region greatly appeals almost each regional and international country, whether may they be developed or developing country seems eager approaching in bilateral and multilateral engagements with these organizations and the states in the region.
The cooperation that is vital to the a lot of states’ national interests consists of the fields of security, economic, energy, bilateral, free trade, scientific education and cultural interactions. Most particularly, the Russian Federation and China have leading ambitious roles in region’s economic and infrastructural developments. In addition, the growing significance of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in the present scenario has further enabled China and Russia to become a dominant player on the world economic and political arena. This in turn has as well provided small or developing nations to benefit from the mutual benefit efforts of the SCO, EEU and other forums for their industrialization and national economic development goals.
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BELARUS, 2015/11/08
On Saturday the suspension of most European Union targeted sanctions against Belarus came into result.
The sanctions were suspended “in response to the release of all Belarusian political prisoners on 22 August and in the context of improving EU-Belarus relations”. Ironically, the move comes a few weeks next the facade presidential election in October 2015.
The move shows that the EU's expectations of Belarus have become much lower. In the late 1990s the West expected from Belarus free and equitable elections and better respect for human rights. A regime change in Belarus looked realistic again. Twenty years later the major expectation of the European Union is not significant political changes but avoiding violence against political opponents and securing the release of political prisoners.
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BELARUS, 2015/11/08
On 26 September in New York, Alexander Lukashenka met with IMF chief Christine Lagarde. They discussed prospects for an IMF-supported programme.
According to the IMF statement “Lagarde welcomed some recent evolution in strengthening the policy framework in Belarus, but emphasised that a additional comprehensive reorientation of policies, consistently supported at the highest level, is needed to replace stability and sustainable increase”.
In fact, in the current presidential campaign Lukashenka is distancing himself from populism. Moreover, since the beginning of 2015 the Minsk's authorities have consciously conducted a conservative economic policy and slowly introduced structural reforms, despite the recession.
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BELARUS, 2015/11/08
The suspension of air traffic between Ukraine and Russia on 25 October has created a new opportunity for Belarus.
The national air carrier, Belavia, and the national aviation authorities reacted quickly by increasing aircraft capacity on the routes between Minsk and Kyiv and negotiating with Kiev over the opening of new routes to Ukraine.
Belarus by presently has experience in profiting from a lot of sanctions and trade wars, which Russia has waged against Europe and its new allies in the post-Soviet space. It looks like the government of Belarus is hoping to gain not only short-term benefits out of the Ukraine-Russia airline conflict.
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BELARUS, 2015/11/08
On October 27, the Belarusian statistical office released revised GDP data. The government actually bets on a quick revival of the economy and bails-out some firms and industries through expanding its own deficit.
However, this in turn creates a potential problem of public deficit sustainability, as the perspectives for creating the effective economic activity of firms under a bail-out look doubtful. An extra troubling trend is that the increase rate of outstanding loans has been significantly higher than the expansion of firms’ economic activity.
No Recession End in Sight
The Belarusian statistical office reported that in January-September GDP contracted by 3.7%. From the perspective of recession, this figure provides ambiguous signals. On the one hand, the deepness of the recession was less than in January-July. On the other one hand, GDP performance in September deteriorated in comparison to August.
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BELARUS, 2015/09/04
On 1 September the Central Elections Committee of Belarus announced that four presidential candidates had submitted enough signatures to run in elections scheduled for 11 October this year.
Although few question the outcome of this elections and the official victory of the incumbent President Alexander Lukashenka, the elections take place in a very different geopolitical context.
In the 2010 presidential elections, the authorities saw the Belarusian opposition as the major threat and crushed protests, putting several presidential candidates in jail. Next the recent events in Ukraine the authorities seem to view Russia as a additional critical threat although they would not publicly admit it.
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BELARUS, 2015/09/04
In July the Ministry of Trade announced a plan to levy a tax on online purchases in foreign shops. Since again the national agencies have been elaborating the methods that will be used for tax collection. It could become an extra tool to prevent Belarusian customers from buying abroad, both online and in the flesh.
Earning almost three times less than Poles and Lithuanians, Belarusians often prefer to buy food, clothing, household appliances and a lot of other goods in neighbouring EU nations rather than at home. The reason is simple: foreign shops have a wider variety of goods, which are on average cheaper and of better quality again in Belarus.
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BELARUS, 2015/09/04
At the end of July the Minister of Transport Anatol Sivak reported to Lukashenka on important road projects in Belarus, including a second ring road around Minsk and a road toll system.
