parenthesesIndependence:
25 August 1991 (from Soviet Union)
National holiday:
Independence Day, 27 July (1990)
Constitution:
adopted 15 March 1994; replaces constitution of April 1978
Legal system:
based on civil law system
Suffrage:
18 years of age; universal
Executive branch:
chief of state:
President-elect Aleksandr LUKASHENKO (elected 10 July 1994, but not
yet inaugurated) election held June 24 and 10 July 1994 (next to be
held NA); Aleksandr LUKASHENKO 80%, Vyacheslav KEBICH 14%
head of government:
Prime Minister Vyacheslav F. KEBICH (since NA April 1990; offered his
resignation on the election of LUCHASHENKO), First Deputy Prime
Minister Mikhail MYASNIKOVICH (since NA 1991)
cabinet:
Council of Ministers
note:
first presidential elections took place in June-July 1994
Legislative branch:
unicameral
Supreme Soviet:
elections last held 4 April 1990 (next to be held NA); results -
Communists 87%; seats - (360 total) number of seats by party NA; note
- 50 seats are for public bodies; the Communist Party obtained an
overwhelming majority
Judicial branch:
Supreme Court
Political parties and leaders:
Belarusian Popular Front (BPF), Zenon PAZNYAK, chairman; United
Democratic Party of Belarus (UDPB), Aleksandr DOBROVOLSKIY, chairman;
Social Democratic Party of Belarus (SDBP), Mikhail TKACHEV, chairman;
Belarus Workers Union, Mikhail SOBOL, Chairman; Belarus Peasants
Party; Party of People's Unity, Gennadiy KARPENKO; Movement for
Democracy, Social Progress, and Justice (DSPS; includes the Communist
Party), Viktor CHIKIN, chairman
Member of:
CBSS (observer), CE (guest), CEI (participating), CIS, CSCE, ECE,
IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, IFC, ILO, IMF, INMARSAT, INTELSAT (nonsignatory
user), IOC, ITU, NACC, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WHO, WIPO,
WMO
Diplomatic representation in US:
chief of mission:
Ambassador Sergey Nikolayevich MARTYNOV
chancery:
1619 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20009
telephone:
(202) 986–1604
FAX:
(202) 986–1805)
US diplomatic representation:
chief of mission:
(vacant); Charge d'Affaires George KROL
embassy:
Starovilenskaya #46, Minsk
mailing address:
use embassy street address
telephone:
7–0172-34–65-37
Flag:
three horizontal bands of white (top), red, and white
@Belarus, Economy Overview: Belarus ranks among the most developed of the former Soviet states, with a relatively modern - by Soviet standards - and diverse machine building sector and a robust agriculture sector. It also serves as a transport link for Russian oil exports to the Baltic states and Eastern and Western Europe. The breakup of the Soviet Union and its command economy has resulted in a sharp economic contraction as traditional trade ties have collapsed. At the same time, the Belarusian Government has lagged behind most other former Soviet states in economic reform; privatization has barely begun; the agriculture sector remains highly subsidized; the state retains control over many prices; and the system of state orders and distribution persists. Meanwhile, the national bank continues to pour credits into inefficient enterprises, fueling inflation and weakening incentives to improve performance. The government is pinning its hopes on reintegration with the Russian economy, but such a path would only partially restore traditional trade ties. Until economic reform is embraced, Belarus will continue in its economic morass. National product: GDP - purchasing power equivalent - $61 billion (1993 estimate from the UN International Comparison Program, as extended to 1991 and published in the World Bank's World Development Report 1993; and as extrapolated to 1993 using official Belarusian statistics, which are very uncertain because of major economic changes since 1990) National product real growth rate: −9% (1993 est.) National product per capita: $5,890 (1993 est.) Inflation rate (consumer prices): 30% per month (1993) Unemployment rate: 1.4% officially registered unemployed (December 1993); large numbers of underemployed workers Budget: revenues: $NA expenditures: $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA Exports: $710 million to outside of the FSU countries (f.o.b., 1993) commodities: machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, foodstuffs partners: Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Bulgaria Imports: $743 million from outside the FSU countries (c.i.f., 1993) commodities: fuel, industrial raw materials, textiles, sugar partners: Russia, Ukraine, Poland External debt: $NA Industrial production: growth rate −11% (1993); accounts for about 40% of GDP (1992) Electricity: capacity: 8,025,000 kW production: 37.6 billion kWh consumption per capita: 3,626 kWh (1992) Industries: employ about 40% of labor force and produce a wide variety of products including (in percent share of total output of former Soviet Union): tractors (12%); metal-cutting machine tools (11%); off-highway dump trucks up to 110-metric-ton load capacity (100%); wheel-type earthmovers for construction and mining (100%); eight-wheel-drive, high-flotation trucks with cargo capacity of 25 metric tons for use in tundra and roadless areas (100%); equipment for animal husbandry and livestock feeding (25%); motorcycles (21.3%); television sets (11%); chemical fibers (28%); fertilizer (18%); linen fabric (11%); wool fabric (7%); radios; refrigerators; and other consumer goods Agriculture: accounts for almost 25% of GDP and 5.7% of total agricultural output of former Soviet Union; employs 21% of the labor force; in 1988 produced the following (in percent of total
