Xifres de comerç exterior de Bielorússia

Foreign Trade in Figures

The Belarusian economy is both largely state-owned (more than 70% of GDP is generated by public or parastatal enterprises) and very open to international trade, which accounts for 139% of GDP (World Bank, latest data available). The main products exported by Belarus are oil and petroleum products, fertilizers, trucks and tractors and spare parts to them, milk and cheese, meat products, furniture and timber, and tires. Overall, more than 60% of manufactured goods are exported to foreign markets. The country’s imports are led by petroleum oils, petroleum gas, motorized vehicles for the transport of passengers, and medicaments (data by Comtrade).

Belarus’ main trading partners in 2021 were the Russian Federation (35%), Poland (4%), Ukraine (3%), Lithuania (3%), and Germany (2%); whereas imports arrived chiefly from Russia (28.6%), China (8.1%) Germany (3.6%), Ukraine (3.4%), and Poland (2.5%). As a legacy of the Soviet era, during which Belarus was the workshop of the USSR, the Russian and Belarusian production structures remained very complementary. As a result, the Belarusian economy is still strongly concentrated on the Russian market, both as a natural outlet and as its main supplier. In 2022, Belarus saw a trade surplus with Russia for the first time. Recently, trade ties with China have strengthened, as Beijing is looking for partners for its New Silk Road project; whereas the European Union, Belarus' second-largest trading partner, announced that it would not ratify the bilateral partnership and cooperation agreement with the country due to “Belarus' lack of commitment to democracy and political and civil rights”.

The country’s balance of trade has been fluctuating in recent years. In 2021, Belarus exported USD 39.7 billion worth of goods (+36.9% y-o-y) and USD 10.2 billion of commercial services (+16.6%), importing USD 41.3 billion (+26.9% y-o-y) and USD 5.6 billion (+15.1%), respectively (data by WTO). According to figures from the World Bank, Belarus registered a trade surplus of 5.5% of GDP in 2021 (from 3.1% one year earlier). Preliminary figures from Belstat show that in 2022 the turnover of foreign trade in goods totalled USD 76.9 billion (-6% y-o-y), of which exports accounted for USD 38.3 billion (-4.3%) and imports for USD 38.6 billion (-7.7%).