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Rising incomes are feeding into retail trade, which increased by 10.1% y/y to BYN17.2bn ($8.6bn) in January-May, according to Belstat. And that is fuelling the development of organised retail in the republic.
The emergent middle class has a surprising balanced income distribution. President Alexander Lukashenko has been pushing to increase the average salary to BYN1000 ($461) per month from around BYN800 now, but incomes have been rising steadily and Belarus’s current average income is on a par with Russia’s and ahead of that in Ukraine.
5.0 External Sector & Trade 5.1 External sector overview
In January-August 2018 Belarus increased the export of merchandise and services by 18.3% in comparison with the same period of last year to $27.4bn, the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus (NBRB).
Belarus' trade in merchandise and services totalled $54.2bn, 19.1% up from January-August 2017. Export amounted to $27.4bn, with import going over $26.8bn (19.9% up).
The surplus of the foreign trade in merchandise and services amounted to $580.3mn.
Merchandise trade rose by 19.7% to $45.1bn. Merchandise export went up by 18.9% to $21.7bn, with import up by 20.5% to $23.4bn. The deficit of merchandise trade reached $1.6bn, up from $1.1bn in January-August 2017.
Trade in services amounted to $9bn, 115.9% as against January-August 2017. Export of services reached $5.6bn (116%), with import at $3.4bn (115.8%). The surplus of the foreign trade in services reached $2.2bn, 16.3% up from January-August 2017.
The trade turnover between Belarus and China is expected to exceed $3.5bn by the end of 2018 , after reaching $2.3bn in January-August, Belarusian Economy Minister Dmitry Krutoi said in an interview with the Chinese news agency Xinhua. The minister did not provide a breakdown of the details of Belarus-China exports and imports. China is one of Belarus' top three trade partners after Russia and Ukraine, he added.
The investment activities of Chinese companies in Belarus remain limited . According to official data, China accounted for only around 3% of the total volume of FDI over the past few years. Currently, Belarus-China cooperation is mainly limited to project finance, when Chinese state credit resources are channelled to major state infrastructure and industrial projects in Belarus.
Expensive machines and equipment represent the bulk of Chinese imports to Belarus (about 40%). "They represent the foundation of our future export-oriented major enterprises, which will soon allow increasing Belarus'
17 BELARUS Country Report November 2018 www.intellinews.com