Belarus promises more creative approach to exports to Europe in 2022 due to sanctions

 Deputy Head of the Belarus President Administration Dmitry Krutoi gave an interview to the TV channel Belarus One and talked about plans concerning the export of Belarusian products to the European Union and about the effect Western sanctions are having on the process, BelTA has learned. The official said: “Naturally, taking into account the pressure of sanctions and the analysis of the affected enterprises the matrix of deliveries to Europe has been compiled more creatively. We don't expect any decrease in the shipment of the goods and services, which are not targeted by sanctions. Orders have been submitted for buying roughly 50% of those exports, which is quite a lot. Experts estimate the value of the exports affected by sanctions at approximately $250-300 million per annum. Those are primarily energy and petrochemical industry products. Naturally those shipments are expected to go down.” This is why rerouting those shipments to other markets – China, Russia, and Africa – is a number one priority for Belarusian enterprises. Dmitry Krutoi stressed that the government still expects export to account for 65% of the Belarusian economy growth next year. The export growth rate is expected to reach 106.3% or $2.7 billion more than in 2021. “In line with the forecast documents, export is expected to rise primarily thanks to an increase in the physical volume – by 5 points,” he clarified. The Belarusian government expects merchandise export to China to rise by 32% or by $300 million in 2022, with export to Russia up by 9.5% and export to Africa up by 52%. Egypt and Zimbabwe are the main countries in Africa where specific contracts for selling Belarusian machines, vehicles, and equipment have already been signed. Dmitry Krutoi went on saying: “The demand is very large. If we look at China and the commodity groups it buys, then food shipments will be the leaders next year.” In his words, Belarus intends to ship over $500 million worth of food to China in 2022, up from about $350 million in 2021.

Dmitry Krutoi concluded: “So, they will not be able to isolate us. We have plenty of friends and partners. We hope that within the framework of diversification and rerouting of export flows we will be able to not only secure an export increase of nearly $3 billion but preserve a foreign trade surplus as large as $2.5 billion. It will provide certain stabilization for our domestic foreign currency market.