Publication

This commentary looks at petroleum as a source of income for Belarus. Belarus generated a surplus at US$1.9 billion in foreign trade in goods and services in the first four months of 2012 as compared to a deficit of US$2.8 billion for the same time frame a year earlier. Minsk owes this mainly to a significant increase in exports of petroleum products. This is a consequence of the favorable contract for supplies of Russian oil until 2015 which Belarus signed in December 2011. According to the authors, these favorable conditions will allow the Belorussian refineries to remain the driving force of the country’s economy and the Belorussian government will not allow them to be privatized.