Foreign Exchange Revenue Of Belarus Falls By 16%

Several factors have led to this.

The foreign exchange earnings of Belarus in January-August amounted to $ 23.134.8 million and decreased by 16% compared to the same period last year, according to the statistics of the National Bank, the website naviny.by reports.

Including, the revenue from export of goods decreased by 19.2% to $ 16.831.1 million, the revenue from export of services increased by 6.4% to $ 6.098.2 million.

At the same time, in August, foreign exchange earnings amounted to $ 3.102.2 million and decreased compared to the same month last year by 12.6%. Including revenue from export of goods amounted to $ 2.366.6 million and decreased by 11.4% compared to the same period last year, revenue from export of services amounted to $ 674.8 million and decreased by 14.1%.

According to experts, a decrease in foreign exchange earnings will have negative consequences. “Many Belarusian enterprises have attracted foreign currency loans, and it is natural that the reduction in foreign exchange earnings negatively affects the ability of enterprises to pay loans, raise wages, and even more so to implement investment projects,” said Iryna Tachitskaya, Scientific Director of the IPM Research Center.

She drew attention to the fact that the reduction in foreign exchange earnings led to a decrease in the revenues of the Belarusian budget, which includes export duties on oil, oil products and potash fertilizers, as well as tax on profits of exporting enterprises.

According to experts, a significant reduction in foreign exchange earnings this year is due to the influence of several factors: a decrease in Russian oil supplies to Belarus in the first quarter; a decrease in external demand for Belarusian goods and services due to the pandemic; a decrease in the cost of raw materials (oil products and potash fertilizers) exported by Belarus in the world.

International financial organizations predict that due to a decrease in external demand for Belarusian goods and services, the country's economy will contract in 2020. Thus, the World Bank predicts a decline in Belarus' GDP this year by 4%, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development - by 3%, the International Monetary Fund - by 6%. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Economy hopes to prevent a decline in GDP this year and expects economic recovery in the second half of the year. In January-August, Belarus's GDP fell by 1.3%.