17 May 2010 18:37

Belarusian industrial output grows 6.1% in Jan-April

MINSK. May 17 (Interfax) - The volume of industrial output in Belarus in the first four months came to 45.9 trillion Belarusian rubles in current prices, in physical terms increasing 6.1% year-on-year of a target forecast of 12% for 2010 as a whole, the national statistics committee Belstat told Interfax.

Output in physical terms was up 6.4% year-on-year just in April, but down 2.1% from this past March.

Among the strongest sectors were the chemicals industry, which expanded 27.7% to 4.12 trillion Bel. rubles; pulp and paper - 13.6% to 267 billion Bel. rubles; petrochemicals - 11.8% to 698.3 billion Bel. rubles; and electric power - 12.1% to 3.82 trillion Bel. rubles.

Production in the sugar industry increased 57.9% to 507 billion Bel. rubles.

The greatest decreases in production were posted in oil refining - 38.4% to 6.9 trillion Bel. rubles; the automotive industry - 8.2% to 1.581 trillion Bel. rubles; tool and instrument-making - 13% to 163.5 billion Bel. rubles; and ferrous metallurgy - 4.8% to 1.578 trillion Bel. rubles.

Output of electric power in Belarus in January-April came to 12 billion kWt hours (up 13.4%), in thermal energy to 17.8 million gCal (up 11.1%), and in oil-extraction to 556,400 tonnes (down 1.5%).

Including all sources of financing, 1.520 million m2 of housing was built (up 1.6% year-on-year) in the four months. Home construction received 2.9 trillion Bel. rubles of investment. Contractor work came to 6.9 trillion Bel. rubles, a 7.1% year-on-year increase.

In 2009, Belarus increased investment in fixed capital by 8.6% in constant prices from 2008 - 43.1 trillion Bel. rubles.

The official exchange rate on May 17: 2,990 Bel. rubles/$1.