Country Report Belarus August 2009

Publication Date	August 2009
Publisher	EIU
Product Type	Report
Pages	30
ISBN Number	not applicable
Product Code	EIU00108

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Summary

You may have noticed that since the second quarter of this year, some additional content has started to appear in your monthly and quarterly CRs. We are now including a country map, and a range of basic data (selected to be useful for business travellers in particular), in every country report. For most countries, except a few where data are in very short supply, we are also including comparative economic indicators that show each country's position relative to regional peers, in easy-to-read graphical format.

In addition, for 176 countries, the Country Reports will now include an annual analysis of each country's position in the Economist Intelligence Unit's Democracy Index, which ranks countries in terms of their level of democracy, based on five key categories. These analyses were published in the second quarter of this year (in the April country reports for countries covered on a monthly basis, and in the second-quarter reports for those covered on a quarterly basis). Furthermore, as a new feature for more than 150 countries, an analysis of each country's ranking in our unique Quality of Life index will be published on an annual basis starting in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Some of this content has been migrated over to the Country Reports from another product, the Country Profile, which has now been discontinued. The difficult decision to close the Country Profile reflected limited client demand for this service as well as our view that much of the content included in this report is now available for free elsewhere. We would appreciate any feedback that you have on the migration of content from the Country Profiles to the Country Reports.

This report covers the following industry codes:
SIC Code: 49;60
NAICS Code: 22;52

Content

Important changes to Country Reports
Summary
Basic data
Political structure
Economic structure: Annual indicators
Economic structure: Quarterly indicators
Economic structure: Comparative economic indicators
Outlook for 2009-10: Domestic politics
Outlook for 2009-10: International relations
Outlook for 2009-10: Policy trends
Outlook for 2009-10: Fiscal policy
Outlook for 2009-10: Monetary policy
Outlook for 2009-10: International assumptions
Outlook for 2009-10: Economic growth
Outlook for 2009-10: Inflation
Outlook for 2009-10: Exchange rates
Outlook for 2009-10: External sector
Outlook for 2009-10: Forecast summary
The political scene: Serious tensions arise with Russia
The political scene: The president makes extensive personnel changes
The political scene: The opposition is sidelined
The political scene: The EU continues to court the Lukashenka regime
The political scene: Russia seeks to defuse bilateral tensions
The political scene: Relations with Russia
Economic policy: Budget is revised in response to the slowdown
Economic policy: Credit growth continues to rise rapidly
Economic policy: The IMF approves further lending, but more is needed
Economic policy: The government seeks foreign investment
Economic policy: The government remains wedded to its economic model
Economic policy: NBRB burns through reserves to prevent rubel depreciation
The domestic economy: GDP growth slumps under the impact of the global crisis
The domestic economy: Industrial production declines
The domestic economy: Inflation is on a downward trend
Foreign trade and payments: Exports collapse under the impact of the economic crisis
Foreign trade and payments: Trade with Russia
Foreign trade and payments: Payment for gas supplies from Russia remains contentious
Foreign trade and payments: Russia plans to co-ordinate WTO entry with Belarus
Foreign trade and payments: The current-account deficit widens alarmingly