Earlier this month the Belarusian authorities refused to register yet another human rights organisation called For Just Elections (Za Spravedlivye Vybory). To put it mildly, the three reasons for the refusal are odd: none of them seemed to be based...
On 25 April 2013 Tatsiana Matoryna, Director of the Brest Stocking Plant — one of the largest apparel industry companies in the former Soviet Union— blamed sharp decreases in the plant’s sales on Belarus’ economic integration with Russia and...
On 17 April 2013 Standard and Poor's upgraded its outlook on Belarus sovereign rating from stable to positive. According to the agency, strengthening economic stability was brought on by tightened monetary and fiscal policies. The beneficial change means more than a...
Last year net foreign direct investments into the real sector of Belarusian economy dropped by 75 per cent compared to 2011, according to recently release figures of the Belarusian Statistics Committee. The pretext for sentimental patriots to moan is another reason...
On 10 January the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection proudly announced that Belarus has reached a historical minimum level of unemployment: 0,5 per cent. The figure looks impressive even compared to the recently improved unemployment indicators in Russia...
However unfortunate could be the political and economic situation within Belarus, thanks to some Belarusians the national pride can still be high. In 2012 Belarusian handball players were among the ones to thank for that. After a longest decline of...
650 thousand Chinese will be building an industrial park near Minsk and they have already obtained working visas. Yaraslau Ramanchuk – an ex-candidate for Belarusian presidency – has received this information from his own sources of information. Gazeta.ru, major Russian online media, also mentioned...
In the recently released state budget of Belarus for 2013, support of science features among the top priorities. This could signify a change of policy because for years state financing of science has been unacceptably low. Even with the increase in...
In some areas, Belarus is very much like the rest of Europe. Its population is rapidly ageing. But unlike its western neighbours, Belarusians benefit from one of the lowest retirement ages in the world – 55 years old for women and...
There are less than three months left until 2013, the year when Belarus will have to pay out $3.1bn of its external debt. Whether the government will manage to handle this challenge is still unclear. The Belarusian economy has not...
Whether you arrive in Minsk from the airport, bus or railway station, one of the first things you notice is abundant construction. You will see construction sites almost everywhere. New shiny office buildings of glass and concrete grow in the...
The 2012 Olympic Games brought little happiness to Belarus' team: not matching even half of their expectations and receiving the fewest medals ever. This means trouble for Lukashenka’s plans to restore the image of Belarus’ overall prosperity thanks to athletics. Yet...
The 2012 university admissions campaign in Belarus has just finished and reflects a very interesting trend. However good Belarusian higher education is for engineers, physicists, and mathematicians, that does not seem to matter to young people anymore. They want...
Despite the proclaimed common Russia-Belarus way to prosperity within the Customs Union, neither country is ready to sacrifice individual economic interests for this cooperation. On 24 July Russia stopped railway deliveries of straight-run gasoline – the main raw material...
As Russia is finalizing the terms of its accession to the World Trade Organization, Belarus struggles to understand what this accession will mean to it. The question is difficult and important because Belarus closely cooperates with Russia as member...