Debts of Belarusian "Flagships" Hit All-Time Highs

Minsk enterprises are the ones who owe the most.

The growth in the total debt of large and medium-sized enterprises has resumed in the country. The amount of obligations to creditors is close to the record high, writes banki24.by.

The data on the settlement of flagship companies in Belarus come with a delay of 1.5 months after the end of the reporting period. Therefore, the most recent information in mid-October is data as of September 1.

As of September 1, 2021, the total debts of flagships exceeded 162.3 billion BYN. Compared to the early year, the volume of business liabilities increased by 2.5%. The record-high debt value was recorded on July 1 at 162.6 billion BYN. Thus, business debts rushed again to the maximum in the history of measurement by early autumn.

In the last five years, the dynamics of debt was as follows: for 2016 - an increase of 7.4%, 2017 - 12.9%, 2018 - 10.7%, 2019 - 7.4%, 2020 - 19.3%. All in all, the debt growth over the last 5 years amounted to 72% in terms of BYN-equivalent.

The rapid growth last year was due to the devaluation of the Belarusian ruble. Since part of the debt is in foreign currency, the depreciation of the ruble automatically increases the ruble equivalent of the debt.

On September 1, 2021, Minsk's flagship companies were the most indebted. Their debt amounted to 43.7 billion BYN on the balance sheet date.

Grodno region flagships have the fastest growing debt - by 11.7% over eight months. Grodno region organizations are now in second place in the country in terms of accumulated debt (28.3 billion BYN).

The Minsk region is in third place in debt. On the reporting date, the flagships in the Minsk region have accumulated liabilities of 28.1 billion BYN. In 2021, the debts of these companies increased by 8.2%.

In other regions, the situation with debts was as follows: Brest region - 10.3 billion BYN, Vitebsk region - 14.3 billion BYN, Gomel region - 24.1 billion BYN, Mogilev region - 13.5 billion BYN. In industry, the total debt reached 93.2 billion BYN. Since an early year, they have grown by 20.8%.

Flagships of manufacturing industries accumulated the largest debt - 67.6 billion BYN. In the energy sector, liabilities rose to 21.6 billion BYN (3.5 times higher). In the agricultural sector, debts amounted to 16.3 billion BYN, in construction - 7.8 billion BYN, in wholesale trade - 7.5 billion BYN, in retail - 10.4 billion BYN, and transport - 7.3 billion BYN.