UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTrO (observer)
Diplomatic representation in the US: chief of mission: Ambassador Valeriy V. TSEPAKLO chancery: 1619 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20009 consulate(s) general: New York FAX: [1] (202) 986-1805 telephone: [1] (202) 986-1604
Diplomatic representation from the US: chief of mission: Ambassador Michael KOZAK embassy: 46 Starovilenskaya use embassy street address telephone: Flag description: red horizontal band (top) and green horizontal band one-half the width of the red band; a white vertical stripe on the hoist side bears the Belarusian national ornament in red
Economy Belarus
Economy - overview: Belarus has seen little structural reform since 1995, when President LUKASHENKO launched the country on the path of "market socialism." In keeping with this policy, LUKASHENKO reimposed administrative controls over prices and currency exchange rates and expanded the state's right to intervene in the management of private enterprise. In addition to the burdens imposed by high inflation and persistent trade deficits, businesses have been subject to pressure on the part of central and local governments, e.g., arbitrary changes in regulations, numerous rigorous inspections, retroactive application of new business regulations, and arrests of "disruptive" businessmen and factory owners. Close relations with Russia, possibly leading to reunion, color the pattern of economic developments. For the time being, Belarus remains self-isolated from the West and its open-market economies.
GDP: purchasing power parity - $84.8 billion (2001 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 4.1% (2001 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $8,200 (2001 est.)
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 13% industry: 42% services: 45% (2000)
Population below poverty line: 22% (1995 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 5.1% highest 10%: 20% (1998)
Distribution of family income - Gini index: 21.7 (1998)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 46.1% (2001 est.)
Labor force: 4.8 million (2000)
Labor force - by occupation: industry and construction NA%, agriculture and forestry NA%, services NA%
Unemployment rate: 2.1% officially registered unemployed (December 2000); large number of underemployed workers
Budget: revenues: $4 billion expenditures: $4.1 billion, including capital expenditures of $180 million (1997 est.)
Industries: metal-cutting machine tools, tractors, trucks, earthmovers, motorcycles, television sets, chemical fibers, fertilizer, textiles, radios, refrigerators
Industrial production growth rate: 5.4% (2001 est.)
Electricity - production: 24.66 billion kWh (2000)
Electricity - production by source: fossil fuel: 99.51% hydro: 0.08% other: 0.41% (2000) nuclear: 0%
Electricity - consumption: 26.78 billion kWh (2000)
Electricity - exports: 300 million kWh (2000)
Electricity - imports: 4.15 billion kWh (2000)
Agriculture - products: grain, potatoes, vegetables, sugar beets, flax; beef, milk
Exports: $7.5 billion (f.o.b., 2001)
Exports - commodities: machinery and equipment, mineral products, chemicals, textiles, foodstuffs, metals
Exports - partners: Russia 51%, Ukraine 8%, Poland 4%, Germany 3% (2000)
Imports: $8.1 billion (f.o.b., 2001)
Imports - commodities: mineral products, machinery and equipment, chemicals, foodstuffs, metals
Imports - partners: Russia 65%, Germany 7%, Poland 3% (2000)
Debt - external: $770 million (2001 est.)
Economic aid - recipient: $194.3 million (1995)
Currency: Belarusian ruble (BYB/BYR)
Currency code: BYB/BYR
Exchange rates: Belarusian rubles per US dollar - 1,590 (yearend 2001), 1,531.000 (November 2001), 876.750 (2000), 248.795 (1999), 46.127 (1998), 26.020 (1997); note - on 1 January 2000, the national currency was redenominated at one new ruble to 2,000 old rubles
Fiscal year: calendar year
Communications Belarus
Telephones - main lines in use: 2.313 million (1997)
Telephones - mobile cellular: 8,167 (1997)
Telephone system: general assessment: the Ministry of Telecommunications controls all telecommunications through its carrier (a joint stock company) Beltelcom which is a monopoly domestic: local - Minsk has a digital metropolitan network and a cellular NMT-450 network; waiting lists for telephones are long; local service outside Minsk is neglected and poor; intercity - Belarus has a partly developed fiber-optic backbone system presently serving at least 13 major cities (1998); Belarus's fiber optics form synchronous digital hierarchy rings through other countries' systems; an inadequate analog system remains operational international: Belarus is a member of the Trans-European Line (TEL), Trans-Asia-Europe (TAE) fiber-optic line, and has access to the Trans-Siberia Line (TSL); three fiber-optic segments provide connectivity to Latvia, Poland, Russia, and Ukraine; worldwide service is available to Belarus through this infrastructure; additional analog lines to Russia; Intelsat, Eutelsat, and Intersputnik earth stations
Radio broadcast stations: AM 28, FM 37, shortwave 11 (1998)
Radios: 3.02 million (1997)
Television broadcast stations: 47 (plus 27 repeaters) (1995)
Televisions: 2.52 million (1997)
Internet country code: .by
Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 23 (2002)
Internet users: 180,000 (2001)
Transportation Belarus
Railways: total: 5,523 km broad gauge: 5,523 km 1.520-m gauge (875 km electrified) (2000 est.)
Highways: total: 98,200 km paved: 66,100 km (includes some all-weather gravel-surfaced roads) unpaved: 32,100 km (these roads are made of unstabilized earth and are difficult to negotiate in wet weather) (1990)
Waterways: NA km; note - Belarus has extensive and widely used canal and river systems
Pipelines: crude oil 1,470 km; refined products 1,100 km; natural gas 1,980 km (1992)
Ports and harbors: Mazyr
Airports: 136 (2001)
Airports - with paved runways: total: 33 over 3,047 m: 2 2,438 to 3,047 m: 19 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 under 914 m: 11 (2001)
Airports - with unpaved runways: total: 103 over 3,047 m: 3 2,438 to 3,047 m:
