Belarus in the red

  • 2002-06-20
  • Agence France-Presse, MINSK
Belarus' declining economy and falling revenues caused a $160 million deficit in the isolated state's 2001 budget, Belarus' Finance Minister Nikolai Korbut told the Parliament June 12.

Actual revenues were 11 percent less than planned, as Belarus' many unprofitable enterprises were unable to yield enough taxes, Korbut said, adding that the number of companies operating at a loss increased by 9 percent over the last year.

By March of this year, 1,098 Belarusian enterprises - nearly half of all the companies functioning in the ex-Soviet republic - were unprofitable, according to the Statistics Ministry.

According to Korbut, even though Belarus managed to cut down its external debt by $48.7 million, the internal debt went up by 354 billion Belarus rubles ($225 million) by January 2002.

Analysts say Bealrus' economy has been hampered by lingering vestiges of the Soviet economic model.