Belarus' foreign trade in goods decreased by 40.1 percent year-on-year in the first seven months of 2009 to $26,330.3 million, said the National Statistics Committee.
The country’s exports reportedly decreased by 46.1 percent to $11,022.4 million, and imports by 34.9 percent to $15,307.9 billion. Belarus' deficit in trade in goods totaled $4,285.5 million, up from $3,067.7 million in the first seven months of 2008. According to the Committee, Belarus had a deficit of $4,871.1 billion in trade with the CIS countries in the first seven months of 2009, compared with $7,438.2 million in the same period of the previous year. Exports dropped by 46 percent to $4,834.5 million and imports by 40.8 percent to $9,705.6 million. Trade with the CIS countries decreased by 42.6 percent to $15,540.1 million.
Belarus' exports to Russia fell by 46.5 percent to $3,521 million and imports by 40.4 percent to $8,906.2 million. Trade between the two countries amounted to $12,427.2 million, 42.2 percent less than in the first seven months of 2008. The deficit in trade with Russia totaled $5,385.2 million, down from $8,356.2 million a year earlier.
Trade with Ukraine decreased by 49.6 percent to $1,522.1 million. Belarus' exports fell by 51.9 percent to $847.3 million and imports by 46.4 percent to $674.8 million.
Belarus had a surplus of $172.5 million in trade with Ukraine as of August 1, down from $501.5 million a year before. Trade with non-CIS countries decreased by 36.7 percent to $11,790.2 million, with exports dropping by 46.2 percent to $6,187.9 million and imports by 21.5 percent to $5,602.3 million. The export surplus thus amounted to $585.6 million.
In particular, Belarus had a deficit of $781.4 million in trade with Germany, with Belarus' exports going down by 21.7 percent to $409.2 million and imports by 19.8 percent to $1,190.6 million. Trade between the two countries dropped by 20.3 percent to $1,599.8 million.
