Belarus Recorded a Balance of Trade Deficit of almost USD 500 Million with Russia

Belarus recorded a balance of trade deficit of USD 471.4 million with Russia in the first two months of 2003. With all CIS countries this figure was USD 463.4 million. This announcement was made to a Rosbalt correspondent today at the Belarus Foreign Ministry.

On the other hand, there was a balance of trade surplus of USD 326.5 million with non-CIS countries, that is USD 218.4 million higher than the corresponding figure for 2002. Overall, Belarus recorded a balance of trade surplus of USD 136.9 million, that is a year-on-year increase of USD 30.6 million or 28.8%.

The following tendencies were observed in Belarus' foreign trade over this period: an increase in the overall volume of trade turnover (32.3%) due to an increase in the volume of export (32.5%) and import (32.2%); an increase of 14.7% (USD 89.1 million) in the volume of export to CIS countries and an increase of 55.2% (USD 262.9 million) in the volume of export to non-CIS countries.