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Belarusian Economy in the First Half of 2004
In the first half
of 2004 the economy of Belarus demonstrated sustainable and dynamic
development. Auspicious external and domestic factors made it possible to
meet practically all most important parameters of the socio-economic
development forecast of the country.
In comparison
with the first half of 2004:
-
GDP grew 10.3
percent. According to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
Statistical Committee, Belarus yielded only to Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine;
-
industrial
production rose 14.4 percent, agricultural production rose 5.7 percent;
-
consumer goods
production increased by 14.2 percent;
-
volume of
investment in fixed capital grew 21.7 percent;
-
real income of
the population (adjusted to the consumer price indices) grew 12.5 percent.
The results of
foreign economic activity of Belarus showed considerable overfulfillment of
forecasts: in the first half of 2004 foreign trade in goods in comparison
with the same period of 2003 grew 32.5 percent, with both exports and
imports grow at an equal pace.
Territorial
structure of exports was substantially diversified. While formerly about 70
percent of Belarusian exports went to Russia, today Belarus exports there
less than a half (47 percent) of its products. EU is second largest trade
partner of Belarus with a 37 percent share of Belarusian exports.
Substantial amounts of goods are being delivered to the countries of Middle
East, Asia, Africa, and the US. Belarusian exports to the United States grew
by 76 percent in the first six months of 2004 in comparison with the same
period of 2003.
According to the
official report by the World Bank – World Development Report 2005 –
published in May 2004, the volume of direct foreign investments in
Belarusian economy made up 247 million dollars in 2002. The per capita
amount of investments in Belarus was 25 dollars, whereas in Russia it was 21
dollars, in Ukraine – 14 dollars.
According to the
UNDP Human Development Report 2004, published on July 15, 2004, Belarus:
-
has the lowest
among CIS countries total debt service as percent of GDP (1.4 percent
only);
-
takes the lead
of all CIS countries over adult literacy (99.7 percent);
-
passes all CIS
countries, as well as such EU countries as Latvia, Slovakia, Poland,
Hungary, Czech Republic, Portugal, Greece, Italy, Spain, Germany, France,
Luxemburg, Austria, Great Britain, Ireland, Belgium, and the Netherlands
in public expenditure on education (6 percent of GDP);
-
is the first
among CIS countries on such socially meaningful index as health
expenditure per capita (464 dollars);
-
has the lowest
among CIS countries under-five mortality rate;
-
100 percent of
the population of Belarus have sustainable access to an improved water
source, so far this figure has not been achieved by any other CIS country;
-
leads among CIS
countries and some EU member states (Lithuania and Poland) by the amount
of telephone mainlines (299 per 1000 people);
-
has twice as
many Internet users compared with Russia, and 4 times more than Ukraine.
According to the
Vienna Institute of International Relations report (Vienna Institut für
Internationale Vergleiche), published in July 2004, divergence of income of
different groups of population of Belarus is not substantial: Gini
coefficient (index of differentiation of income level of different groups of
population, which serves as a characteristic of social injustice) has
remained practically unchanged since 1992 and made up 0.34 in 2001, which is
much lower than in Russia (0.52) and Ukraine (0.45).
Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in August 2004 placed Belarus
on top of CIS countries by the possibility of the population to obtain
valuable nutrition.
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