Page 18 - bne IntelliNews Country Report: Belarus Dec17

recession, supported by better fiscal and monetary policies, stronger domestic demand, and a more favourable external environment. Following a 6.4% cumulative drop during 2015-2016, real GDP growth is estimated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at 1.7% in 2017, driven by higher net exports and recovering domestic demand, the multinational lender said in November.
5.2 Balance of payments, current account
Belarus -Trade 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Trade: External balance on goods and services -7,539 -645 2,935 -2,378 -551 106.08 n/a (USD mn)
Trade: External balance on goods and services (% -13.65 -1.08 4.61 -3.25 -0.72 0.19 n/a of GDP)
Trade: Goods exports (BoP) 24,506 40,928 45,574 36,540 35,736 26,164 22,978
Trade: Goods imports (BoP) 33,795 44,394 45,009 41,134 38,334 28,307 25,571
Trade: Current account BPM6 (USD mn) -8,280 -5,053 -1,862 -7,567 -5,094 -2,757 -1,703
Trade: Current account to GDP (%)
-14.99 -8.46 -2.93 -10.35 -6.69 -3.8 -4.5
5.2.1 Import/export dynamics
Ukraine has initiated an anti-dumping investigation into salt imports from Belarus , Interfax news agency reported on November 3 quoting the Uriadovy Kurier government newspaper. The country's Interdepartmental Commission for International Trade made the relevant decision on October 25 following studying the complaint of Russol-Ukraine based in the Donetsk region. According to the agency, the share of salt imports from Belarus with respect to consumption increased by 3% in 2016 year-on-year, while the share of imports from Belarus relative to Russol-Ukraine production increased by 10%. The volume of production by the company for this period decreased by 3% y/y, domestic sales increased by 4% y/y, profit decreased by 72% y/y in US dollar terms, profitability of products by 73%. y/y.
The companies affiliated with the Belarusian Agriculture and Food Ministry branched out into five new markets in January-September 2017 , First Deputy Agriculture and Food Minister Leonid Marinich told the media on the sidelines of the Prodexpo 2017 food fair on 14 November, BelTA has learned. “We exported $1.845bn worth of products in January-September 2017, up 11.1% from 2016. The export went up by $185 mn. The companies posted a trade surplus of $1.63bn. We are tapping into new markets. This year, we entered another five ones,” Leonid Marinich remarked. In particular, Belarusian products made their debut in Panama, Egypt, Mongolia, Austria, and Finland.
18 BELARUS Country Report December 2017 www.intellinews.com