Belarusian foreign trade felt impact of tougher Western sanctions in Jan - minister

MINSK. March 11 (Interfax) - Belarusian foreign trade felt the impact of tougher Western sanctions in January, and this year will be more difficult, Belarusian Foreign Minister Maxim Ryzhenkov said.

"Taking into account the growing economic and political potential of the geographically distant countries, Belarus stepped up cooperation with the states of Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. We did our best to keep trade going with the countries of the European Union. Trade with a number of European countries even grew [in 2024]," the BelTA news agency quoted Ryzhenkov as saying at a Foreign Ministry board meeting.

He said Belarus currently traded with more than 210 countries and regions. "The top three trading partners are Russia, China and the UAE, followed by Poland and Germany. Trade volumes with Kazakhstan, Turkey, Italy, Brazil, and Uzbekistan are significant," he said.

"Our task is to work harder to increase efficiency in everything: in the implementation of agreements, strengthening coordination between agencies, the preparation of documentation and in the overall organization of work," Ryzhenkov said.

He said that this year the conditions for foreign trade between Belarus and Western countries would worsen even more. "We all realize that given the full-scale sanctions policy of the EU countries, it will be much more difficult for us this year. We can already see this by the results of January," he said.

"Our task is to work harder to increase efficiency in everything: in the implementation of agreements, strengthening coordination between agencies, the preparation of documentation and in the overall organization of work," he said.

Belarus began this year with deteriorating trade figures. The merchandise trade deficit widened 5.6-fold to $452.6 million, with exports falling 11.4% to $2.67 billion and imports growing 1% to $3.12 billion, the National Bank said. Trade in goods decreased by 5.1% to $5.79 billion.

The Eurasian Development Bank said in a weekly report that the decline in overall Belarusian exports in January was the result of a 21.3% drop in exports to non-CIS countries. Exports to the key CIS market fell 6.2% due to increased competition and lower demand amid high interest rates in Russia.