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 22 August, the state-run news agency Belta reported that “based on the principle of humanism” the President of Belarus decided to pardon and release from prison former presidential candidate Mikalaj Statkevich and five other opposition figures. Lukashenka is trying...
Each and every election in Belarus follows a straightforward pattern: limit the rights of the opposition, control the vote-counting process and, later, announce the predetermined winner. However, the 2015 campaign will differ from previous ones in a number of...
Belarus's GDP growth managed to strengthen in November. But despite this, many signals about an upcoming downturn have appeared. The Russian economic contagion began to spread to Belarus through trade and informational channels. The government reacted by introducing a de-facto...
Belarus displayed modest but stable growth during past couple of months. However, future prospects for growth remain uncertain, given the deteriorating economic situation in Russia along with the desire of the authorities to carry out several growth stimulating policies. Moreover, there...
Economic performance during first two months of 2014 has been rather disappointing. First, almost all industries reduced their output which led to a decline in GDP by 1.6% year-on-year in January-February. Second, Belarus has faced new challenges on foreign markets, which are a consequence of capital...
The year 2013 will probably go into the economic history of Belarus as a year when even the government officials acknowledged that the economy was stagnating, and there were no prospects for any quick economic growth in the years to come. The...
On the 10 October 2013 the government and the National Bank of Belarus issued a plan for structural reforms of the Belarusian economy aimed to increase its competitiveness. Faced with major threats to its macroeconomic stability and the unfortunate timing of the...
Amidst the snowy spring of 2013, the National Bank of Belarus finally gave up on its attempts to maintain macroeconomic stability and turned its attention to the real sector. The National Bank began carrying out a policy of providing...
Belarusians in their modern history saw two major economic crises. The first followed the collapse of the Soviet Union in early 1990s and the second was in 2011 when many thought the Belarusian economy would crumble. The 2011 currency crisis and inflation dramatically changed well-being of Belarusians. Consumer...
About a thousand Belarusains received an unusual anonymous SMS text on 4 January. According to the message the National Bank of Belarus had secretly decided to devalue the national currency by more than 60%. It was predicted that the new...
The currency crisis of 2011 has revealed the limits of the Belarusian economic model. On the one hand, it became obvious even to the most conservative government officials that changes in economic policy are required. On the other hand, the...
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...
The currency exchange crisis persists in Belarus while the government is looking for ways to tackle it at a minimal political cost. Russia has declined to grant Belarus the much awaited loan of 1 bn. USD. The last hope is...
