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of Labor and Justice [Anatol NETYLKIN, chairman]; Belarus Peasants or
BSP [Yevgeniy LUGIN, chairman]; Belarusian Popular Front or NFB [Levon
BARSHEVSKIY, acting chairman]; Belarusian Social Sports Party
[Aleksandr ALEKSANDROVICH, chairman]; Ecological Party [Liudmila
YELIZAROVA, chairman]; National Democratic Party of Belarus or NDPB
[Viktor NAUMENKO, chairman]; United Democratic Party of Belarus or
ADPB [Aleksandr DOBROVOLSKIY]; Belarusian Socialist Party or SPB
[Vyacheslav KUZNETSOV]; Slavic Assembly or SAB [Nikolai SYARECHEV];
Liberal-Democratic Party or LDPB [Sergei GAIDUKEVICH, chairman];
Belarusian Christian-Democratic Unity or BKDZ [Petr SILKO]; Polish
Democratic Union or PDZ [Konstantin TARASEVICH]; Party of Beer Lovers
[Yuriy GONCHAR]; Party of Communists Belarusian or PKB [Sergei
KALYAKIN and Vasiliy NOVIKOV, chairmen]; Belarusian Labor Party or BPP
[Aleksandr BUKHVOSTOV]
International organization participation: BIS, CCC, CEI, CIS, EBRD,
ECE, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, Inmarsat, Intelsat
(nonsignatory user), Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, NACC,
OSCE, PCA, PFP, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO,
WTrO (applicant)
Diplomatic representation in the US: chief of mission : Ambassador-designate Valeriy TSEPKALO chancery: 1619 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20009 telephone: [1] (202) 986–1604 FAX: [1] (202) 986–1805 consulate(s) general: New York
Diplomatic representation from the US: chief of mission : Ambassador Kenneth Spencer YALOWITZ embassy: Starovilenskaya #46–220002, Minsk mailing address: use embassy street address telephone: [375] (172) 31–50-00 FAX : [375] (172) 34–78-53
Flag description: red horizontal band (top) and green horizontal band one-half the width of the red band; a white vertical stripe of white on the hoist side bears in red the Belarusian national ornament
Economy
Economy - overview: At the time of independence in late 1991, Belarus was one of the most developed of the former Soviet states, inheriting a modern - by Soviet standards - machine building sector and robust agricultural sector. However, the breakup of the Soviet Union and its traditional trade ties in December 1991, as well as the government's failure to embrace market reforms, has resulted in a sharp economic decline. Privatization is virtually nonexistent and the system of state orders and distribution persists. Although President LUKASHENKO pronounces his 1995 macro stabilization policies a success - annual inflation dropped from 2,220% in 1994 to 244% in 1995 - the IMF has criticized his exchange rate policies and suspended Minsk's $300 million standby program in November 1995. The overvalued ruble has especially hurt Belarusian exporters, most of which now operate at a loss. In addition, the January 1995 Customs Union agreement with Russia - which required Minsk to adjust its foreign trade practices to mirror Moscow's - has resulted in higher import tariffs for Belarusian consumers; tariffs rose from 5%-20% to 20%-40%. In general, as of the beginning of 1997, Belarus has badly lagged in moving away from the old centrally planned policies of the former USSR.
GDP: purchasing power parity - $51.9 billion (1996 estimate as extrapolated from World Bank estimate for 1994)
GDP - real growth rate: 3% (1996 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $5,000 (1996 est.)
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 21% industry: 49% services: 30% (1991 est.)
Inflation rate - consumer price index: 33% (1996)
Labor force: total: 4.731 million by occupation: industry and construction 36%, agriculture and forestry 19%, services 45% (1995)
Unemployment rate: 3.1% officially registered unemployed (December 1996); large numbers of underemployed workers
Budget: revenues : $NA expenditures: $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA
Industries: tractors, metal-cutting machine tools, off-highway dump trucks up to 110-metric-ton load capacity, wheel-type earth movers for construction and mining, eight-wheel-drive, high-flotation trucks with cargo capacity of 25 metric tons for use in tundra and roadless areas, equipment for animal husbandry and livestock feeding, motorcycles, television sets, chemical fibers, fertilizer, linen fabric, wool fabric, radios, refrigerators, other consumer goods
Industrial production growth rate: 3.2% (1996 est.)
Electricity - capacity: 7.21 million kW (1994)
Electricity - production: 23.7 billion kWh (1996)
Electricity - consumption per capita: 2,553 kWh (1995 est.)
Agriculture - products: grain, potatoes, vegetables; meat, milk
Exports: total value: $5.2 billion (f.o.b., 1996) commodities: machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, foodstuffs partners: Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Germany
Imports: total value: $6.8 billion (c.i.f., 1996) commodities: fuel, natural gas, industrial raw materials, textiles, sugar partners: Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Germany
Debt - external: $2 billion (September 1995 est.)
Economic aid: recipient: ODA, $186 million (1993) note : commitments, $3,930 million ($1,845 million disbursements), 1992–95
Currency: Belarusian ruble (BR)
Exchange rates: Belarusian rubles per US$1 - 16,613 (September monthly average 1996),15,500 (yearend 1996), 11,500 (yearend 1995), 10,600 (yearend 1994), 699 (yearend 1993), 15 (yearend 1992)
Fiscal year: calendar year
@Belarus:Communications
Telephones: 1.849 million (1991 est.)
Telephone system: telephone service inadequate for the purposes of either business or the population; about 70% of the telephones are in homes; over 750,000 applications from households for telephones remain unsatisfied (1992 est.); new investment centers on international connections and business needs domestic : the new NMT-450 analog cellular system is now operating in Minsk international: international traffic is carried by the Moscow international gateway switch and also by satellite; satellite earth stations - 1 Intelsat (through Canada) and 1 Eutelsat (through the UK)
Radio broadcast stations: AM 35, FM 18, shortwave 0
Radios: 3.17 million (1991 est.) (5,615,000 with multiple speaker systems for program diffusion)
Television broadcast stations: 2 (one national and one private; the license of the private station was suspended during the parliamentary elections of 1994)
Televisions: 3.5 million (1992 est.)
@Belarus:Transportation
Railways: total: 5,488 km broad gauge: 5,488 km 1.520-m gauge (873 km electrified) (1993)
Highways: total: 51,547 km paved: 50,825 km unpaved: 722 km (1995 est.)
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
Merchant marine: note: claims 5% of former Soviet fleet (1995 est.)
Airports: 118 (1996 est.)
Airports - with paved runways: total: 36 over 3,047 m : 2 2,438 to 3,047 m: 18 1,524 to 2,437 m: 5 under 914 m: 11 (1996 est.)
Airports - with unpaved runways: total: 82 over 3,047 m: 1 2,438 to 3,047 m : 6 1,524 to 2,437 m: 4 914 to 1,523 m: 9 under 914 m: 62 (1996 est.)