Belarusian Solvents: A Tricky Path to Economic Growth
Originally published at Belarus Digest. Please leave any comments there.
Despite the proclaimed common Russia-Belarus way to prosperity within the Customs Union, neither country is ready to sacrifice individual economic interests for this cooperation. On 24 July Russia stopped railway deliveries of straight-run gasoline - the main raw material used in solvents’ production - to Belarus. This was the culmination of this summer’s solvents conflict. The measure is timely, but is likely to result in considerable deterioration of Belarus' economy’s performance.
During the first five months of 2012 Belarusian trade and services surplus amounted to $3bn, compared to the yearly forecast of $1-1.5bn. For Belarus, which suffered greatly from insufficiency of foreign trade last year, these results were a real success. The joy has, however, faded away due to quite unexpected revelations.
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