Official optimistic despite industrial downturn

November 23, BPN. The industrial complex shows “positive dynamics,” Deputy Prime Minister Piotr Parchomčyk told Belarusian MPs at a joint session of both houses of the National Assembly.

Foreign trade in goods and services amounted to $4 billion, with net profits growing by 14 percent to 7.5 billion rubels, Parchomčyk noted in his presentation focusing on the manufacturing, petrochemical, and energy sectors.

The number of unprofitable enterprises fell by 42 year on year, while the revenue per employee amounted to 175,000 rubels, he added.

Parchomčyk noted that nominal average pay in industry amounted to 1,804 rubels (about $745) in September.

The government expects that industrial production will fall by four percent in 2022. In the first 10 months it fell by 5.9 percent, while the Belarusian economy contracted by 4.7 percent, according to the National Statistical Committee (Belsat).

Belarus was the only country in the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) that reported an industrial decline this year with prices of industrial products rising by 12.7 percent.