Cargo traffic plunges over sanctions – economy ministry

February 20, BPN. Belarus’ GDP dropped by 5 percent year on year in January, Dźmitryj Jaraševič, deputy economy minister, told Belarus 1 in an interview broadcast on Sunday evening.

Industrial decline slowed to 4.1 percent in January from 5.4 percent in 2022, he said.

“High-tech industries with high added value,” such as electronics, machine building, and electrical equipment sectors contributed to the “effective growth,” he said. Agriculture posted a 3.5-percent rise in January, he added.

Jaraševič blamed Western sectoral sanctions for a plunge in cargo traffic in January. Cargo transportation fell by 33-percent year on year, according to the Belarusian National Statistic Committee (Belstat).

The Western countries imposed sectoral sanctions on the Belarusian authorities for their complicity in Russia’s war on Ukraine. Earlier, sanctions had been introduced over allegations of vote rigging in the 2020 presidential election, alleged violence against protesters, and the forced landing of the Ryanair flight in Minsk.