BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

17/10/2007

Belarus trade deficit soars 320% in Jan-Aug 2007

MINSK. Oct 17. (Interfax) - The Belarussian trade deficit widened 320% year-on-year in January-August.

The Belarussian Statistics and Analysis Ministry said the country had a deficit of $1,331 billion in the period. The deficit was $308.6 million in the same period of last year.

Foreign trade in January-August 2007 came to $35.8 billion, according to the balance of payments method, up 31.6% year-on-year. Exports came to $17.24 billion, growing 18.3% year-on-year, while imports were at $18.55 billion, up 24.8%.

Total trade with CIS countries in the eight months increased 24% to $18.3 billion. Trade with Russia went up 22.5% to $15.8 billion. Trade with non-CIS countries grew 16%, to $14.3 billion.

In January-August 2007, Belarus exported $15.1 billion in goods, up 16.2% year-on-year. Import of goods also increased, up 24.2%, to $17.5 billion.

Services exports grew 40.8% year-on-year to $2.9 billion and import of services grew 48.1% to $918.4 million.

Source:

http://www.interfax.com/3/325168/news.aspx