fibers, fertilizer,
textiles, radios, refrigerators

Industrial production growth rate: 5% (2000 est.)

Electricity - production: 24.911 billion kWh (1999)

Electricity - production by source: fossil fuel: 99.9%

hydro: 0.1%

nuclear: 0%

other: 0% (1999)

Electricity - consumption: 27.647 billion kWh (1999)

Electricity - exports: 2.62 billion kWh (1999)

Electricity - imports: 7.1 billion kWh (1999)

Agriculture - products: grain, potatoes, vegetables, sugar beets,
flax; beef, milk

Exports: $7.4 billion (f.o.b., 2000)

Exports - commodities: machinery and equipment, chemicals, metals,
textiles, foodstuffs

Exports - partners: Russia 66%, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, Lithuania
(1998)

Imports: $8.3 billion (f.o.b., 2000)

Imports - commodities: mineral products, machinery and equipment,
metals, chemicals, foodstuffs

Imports - partners: Russia 54%, Ukraine, Germany, Poland, Lithuania
(1998)

Debt - external: $1 billion (2000 est.)

Economic aid - recipient: $194.3 million (1995)

Currency: Belarusian ruble (BYB/BYR)

Currency code: BYB/BYR

Exchange rates: Belarusian rubles per US dollar - 1,180 (yearend
2000), 730,000 (15 December 1999), 139,000 (25 January 1999), 46,080
(second quarter 1998), 25,964 (1997), 15,500 (yearend 1996); note -
on 1 January 2000, the national currency was redenominated at one
new ruble to 2,000 old rubles

Fiscal year: calendar year

Belarus Communications

Telephones - main lines in use: 2.313 million (1997)

Telephones - mobile cellular: 8,167 (1997)

Telephone system: general assessment: the Ministry of
Telecommunications controls all telecommunications through its
carrier (a joint stock company) Beltelcom which is a monopoly

domestic: local - Minsk has a digital metropolitan network and a
cellular NMT-450 network; waiting lists for telephones are long;
local service outside Minsk is neglected and poor; intercity -
Belarus has a partly developed fiber-optic backbone system presently
serving at least 13 major cities (1998); Belarus's fiber optics form
synchronous digital hierarchy rings through other countries'
systems; an inadequate analog system remains operational

international: Belarus is a member of the Trans-European Line
(TEL), Trans-Asia-Europe (TAE) fiber-optic line, and has access to
the Trans-Siberia Line (TSL); three fiber-optic segments provide
connectivity to Latvia, Poland, Russia, and Ukraine; worldwide
service is avai