Belarus for the first time reached a surplus in trade with Russia

At the end of 2022, Belarus for the first time ensured a positive balance of foreign trade with Russia, said the Prime Minister of the Republic Roman Golovchenko.

“Following the results of 11 months of 2022, the historically maximum volume of mutual turnover in goods and services was reached – $45 billion. I believe that by the end of 12 months we will be able to overcome the bar of $50 billion,” he said (quote according to BelTA).

Golovchenko also noted that in general, following the results of the past year, Belarusian exports of goods to the Russian market increased both in physical and value terms. “We have always had one of the main problems with Russia – a negative balance. We imported more than we sold. And in some years this difference reached $7 billion,” he concluded.

In December 2022 President Vladimir Putin declaredthat at the end of the year the trade turnover between Russia and Belarus could reach a new record – $40 billion. “If last year we had a record, there is reason to believe that this year we will have a new record. Most likely, we will reach the level of $40 billion in trade turnover,” Putin said.

In October, Aleksey Polishchuk, Director of the Second Department of the CIS countries of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation informedthat by the end of 2022, trade between Russia and Belarus could grow to $45-50 billion. “In January-July, bilateral trade reached a record high of $22 billion. By the end of the year, we can reach $45-50 billion. We had so many with Ukraine until 2014,” he said.