On 3 June 2016 President Alexander Lukashenka decided to strengthen the country's antimonopoly regulation by reforming the Ministry of Trade of Belarus. Meantime, state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are gradually losing their strength and are praying for more changes in their public...
On June, 9 the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus appointed high-ranking officials personally responsible for implementing a number of investment projects. Prime Minister Andrej Kabiakoŭ became supervisor of the BelGee project (vehicles production). This move emphasises the...
On 6 May 2016 the Chairman of the Board of the National Bank of Belarus (NBB) Pavel Kallaur disclosed the long-suspected information about problems in the banking system. Two weeks later, the Prime Minister Andrei Kobyakov has called for market-based...
On 29 March 2016 Prime Minister Andrei Kobyakov proclaimed the government's intention to speed up the long-awaited process of joining the WTO. Moreover, after renegotiating different scenarios for pension reform in Belarus, the authorities have agreed to an increase in...
On 23 March Evgenia Shipova, official representative of Uber Technologies in the CIS region, announced that Minsk was developing faster than in any other city in Europe, Africa or the Middle East. Within four months, 80,000 city residents used...
On 28 March 2016 the Council of the Eurasian Fund for Stabilisation and Development (EFSD) approved the provision of a new loan to Belarus. In the meantime, the export and real estate market established new numbers of their record fall,...
The removal of sanctions against Belarus earlier this year has led to increased interest from institutional investors such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Alain Pilloux, Acting Vice President of this major development bank visited Belarus last...
On 11 March, the Belarusian State Security Committee (KGB) detained Yury Chyzh, one of Belarus' richest businessmen who used to be on friendly terms with President Alexander Lukashenka. The European Union once viewed him as "Lukashenka's purse" and he was...
On 16 February 2016, President Alexander Lukashenka announced zero tolerance for structural reforms being proposed by the government. Meanwhile, since the beginning of 2015 state debt has increased by more than half and real wages in dollar equivalent have fallen...
Belarus had a rough start to 2016 with the global drop in oil prices, causing instability in its currency and posing problems for its budget planning. Yet instead of focusing on the IMF recommendations, the government appears to favour...
The drop in oil prices in the first two weeks of January and the resulting volatility of the Belarusian rouble have taken centre stage. The Belarusian government took some small steps towards reforms, but took no serious measures to reform...
On 1 January 2016, a new edict came into force in Belarus demanding that small traders who sell imported goods must provide details of their origin. The edict was based on laws for small traders introduced by the Eurasian Customs...
Belaruskali, the world's second-largest producer of potash, fared much better in 2015 than the Belarusian economy as a whole. In spite of weak commodity markets, the state-owned company's annual export revenues are likely to be roughly the same as in...
After several years of slow growth, 2015 became the first year of true recession. GDP fell by 3.9 per cent in January-November; employment declined over the year. The Belarusian rouble depreciated by almost 60 per cent. Despite significant changes in...
