Economy, Foreign Trade

Belarus exports transport equipment (mainly tractors), machinery, chemicals, and foodstuffs. Imports include fuel, natural gas, industrial raw materials, textiles, and sugar. Fuel is Belarus’s largest import expenditure. Russia, which supplies most of the country’s fuel imports, is the most important trading partner. Other customers for the exports of Belarus are Ukraine, Poland, Germany, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan; sources for imports in addition to Russia are Ukraine, Poland, Germany, and Lithuania. In 1992 Belarus became a member of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). In 1996, however, the World Bank and the IMF suspended aid because of the government’s decision to halt privatization reforms.