Current Trends in socio-economic development of the Republic of Belarus

The following data provides a snapshot of the quantitative and qualitative parameters of Belarusian economy development in January – October, 2021.

Belarus’ GDP increased by 2.4 per cent.

The industrial production increased by 7.1 per cent. The significant output growth of data processing, electronic and optical equipment (by 19.2 per cent), machinery and equipment (by 15.5 per cent), vehicles (by 12.8 per cent), wood and paper products (by 11.5 per cent), electrical equipment (by 10.2 per cent), pharmaceutical products (by 10.2 per cent) was registered. The share of innovative products in total amount of shipped goods reached 19.2 per cent compared to 17 per cent in January – October, 2020.

Agricultural production grew by 4.7 per cent.

Retail turnover increased by 1 per cent.

Consumer price index stood at 109.3 per cent compared to January – October, 2020.

Financial indicators showed the increase in revenue from sales of goods and services by 23.8 per cent (January – September, 2021). Profitability of sales at 8.2 per cent, including 9.7 per cent in manufacturing industry and 6.3 per cent in agriculture.

Merchandise exports increased by $8.4 billion (by 35.9 per cent)
in January – October, 2021. In January – September, 2021 64.7 per cent of industrial goods manufactured in Belarus were exported.

Export of services grew by $1.3 billion (by 18.2 per cent) mostly due to the increase of export of transport services by $594.1 million (by 19.9 per cent), computer services by $428.8 million (by 21.3 per cent), other business services by $103.7 million (by 14.8 per cent), repair and maintenance services
by $99.3 million (by 2.1 times).

Foreign trade balance in goods and services improved by $1.4 billion compared to January – October, 2020 reaching $3.2 billion. Trade balance ratio towards GDP reached 5.7 per cent.

Socio-economic indicators remained stable. The unemployment rate in January – September, 2021 was registered at 3.9 per cent of the total workforce and hasn’t changed compared to January – September, 2020. Real disposable income increased by 2.6 per cent.

Foreign Direct Investments reached $1.1 billion in January – September, 2021, decreasing the January- September, 2020 FDI indicator by 12.6 per cent.

According to the country’s monetary policy for the year 2021 the volume of international reserve assets should be at least $6 billion by January 1, 2022. As of December 1st, 2021, the international reserve assets of Belarus were reported at $8.5 billion (in equivalent).

After October’s increase by $89.8 million (by 1.1 per cent) international reserve assets in November decreased by $80.7 million (by 0.9 per cent).
The planned repayment of external and internal liabilities in foreign currency was conductive to the decline. Maintaining the international reserve assets
in November was facilitated by the receipt of foreign currency into the budget, including export duties, as well as the increase in the cost of monetary gold.

The exchange rate of the Belarusian ruble remained relatively stable.

The National Bank of Belarus has set the refinance rate at 9.25 per cent since July 21st, 2021.

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