PM: Belarus’ trade with Russia exceeded $25bn in H1 2024

This year, Belarus-Russia trade should exceed the result of 2023 – as noted by Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko during a working trip to the Vitebsk Region as he visited the Vitstroytechmash enterprise

photo: www.belta.by

The Russian Federation is Belarus’ main trading partner in the current economic conditions. The Belarusian-Russian regions are actively strengthening and increasing business partnership across all areas – as confirmed by the figures.

“The joint trade turnover has already exceeded $25bn in six months. Both our exports to Russia and Russian exports to Belarus show an increase. Our contracts with Russia are concluded in Russian Roubles, and we receive revenue in Belarusian Roubles. So, the export figures to Russia are double-digit in both currencies, and the growth is much greater than in US Dollar terms. Therefore, the indicators are very good, and we see that in July there was a serious increase in our supplies to Russia,” Mr. Golovchenko stressed.

According to Belarus’ PM, the agricultural segment is a small deterrent due to the fact that this year as a whole Russia has seen a drop in purchases of agricultural machinery from both Russian and Belarusian manufacturers. The main reasons for this are primarily related to the high cost of credit resources and the current situation in the grain market. However, Belarus was able to compensate for the situation by supplying other types of equipment.

“Last year, as you remember, showed a very serious increase in trade turnover with the Russian Federation. I think we will surpass this result this year,” Mr. Golovchenko asserted.

During his working trip to the Vitebsk Region, Mr. Golovchenko also visited the Vitebsk Concert Hall and the hotel of the same name in the regional centre. Important infrastructure facilities for the city have been significantly renovated this year for the Forum of the Regions of Belarus and Russia and the Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk International Festival of Arts.