The Situation In Trade Made Lukashenko Nervous
- 7.03.2026, 12:55
There remains a problem that sets a "headache" for the dictator.
Belarus continued to face problems in foreign trade in January this year. The negative balance - the excess of imports over exports - amounted to $212.4 million for the month. This is reported by the National Statistics Committee.
In January, foreign trade turnover amounted to $6 billion 717.8 million. Exports amounted to $3 billion 252.7 million, while imports were $212.4 million more.
How officials are trying to solve problems in trade
The authorities have been struggling with imported goods for years, but are experiencing difficulties with it. Meanwhile, Belarus is getting closer and closer to Russia in terms of foreign trade, writes "Zerkalo".
In mid-August 2024, the Ministry of Economy told why there are difficulties in foreign trade: imports of goods are outpacing exports. The ministry believes that "to blame" for this, among other things, the price of oil and potash. Recall, earlier this ministry blamed the problems in foreign trade, including the population - because of the increased demand for imported goods.
The problem in foreign trade was pointed out by Alexander Lukashenko on June 17, 2024: it worries him. On the same day, then Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko (now he holds the position of the head of the National Bank) explained why imports of goods exceed exports. In his opinion, "there is no "some catastrophe". "If we talk about the reasons, they are also prosaic: the world price of oil has risen, respectively, we buy crude oil, so it has played on the increase in the cost of imports," stated Roman Golovchenko.
Also, Alexander Lukashenko has previously repeatedly talked about the problems with the sale of goods in Russia - sales there are falling. September 8, 2025, the politician said that the biggest problem for Belarus today is to find new markets for domestic products, which can't be sold "due to certain objective reasons" in Russia.
And on September 30, 2025, Alexander Lukashenko said about "the importance of preserving the common economic space in cooperation in the CIS and EAEU," because it's unlikely to find new markets.
For example, in 2025 MAZ and some other manufacturers faced a noticeable drop in sales of their machinery in Russia - the main sales market for the products of the Belarusian industry.
Earlier, analysts of the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) linked the slowdown in industrial growth to the shortage of labor and high workload of enterprises in this sphere, which work at 70% of their capacity.