25 metric tons for use in tundra and roadless areas,
equipment for animal husbandry and livestock feeding, motorcycles,
television sets, chemical fibers, fertilizer, linen fabric, wool
fabric, radios, refrigerators, other consumer goods

Industrial production growth rate: 17% (1997 est.)

Electricity-capacity: 7.21 million kW (1997)

Electricity-production: 23.7 billion kWh (1996)

Electricity-consumption per capita: 3,144 kWh (1996)

Agriculture-products: grain, potatoes, vegetables; meat, milk

Exports:
total value: $5.4 billion (f.o.b., 1996)
commodities: machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, foodstuffs
partners: Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Germany

Imports:
total value: $6.7 billion (c.i.f., 1996)
commodities: fuel, natural gas, industrial raw materials, textiles,
sugar
partners: Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Germany

Debt-external: $970 million (December 1997 est.)

Economic aid:
recipient: ODA, $186 million (1993)
note: commitments, $3,930 million ($1,845 million disbursements),
1992-95

Currency: Belarusian rubel (BR)

Exchange rates: Belarusian rubels per US$1-31,030 (19 January 1998
official Belarusian exchange rate), 28,800 (October 1997 end of
period),15,500 (yearend 1996), 11,500 (yearend 1995), 10,600 (yearend
1994), 699 (yearend 1993)

Fiscal year: calendar year

Communications

Telephones: 1.849 million (1991 est.)

Telephone system: telephone service inadequate for the purposes of
either business or the population; about 70% of the telephones are in
homes; over 750,000 applications from households for telephones remain
unsatisfied (1992 est.); new investment centers on international
connections and business needs
domestic: the new NMT-450 analog cellular system is now operating in
Minsk
international: international traffic is carried by the Moscow
international gateway switch and also by satellite; satellite earth
stations-1 Intelsat (through Canada) and 1 Eutelsat (through the UK)

Radio broadcast stations: AM 35, FM 18, shortwave 0

Radios: 3.17 million (1991 est.) (5,615,000 with multiple speaker
systems for program diffusion)

Television broadcast stations: 2 (one national and one private; the
license of the private station was suspended during the parliamentary
elections of 1994)

Televisions: 3.5 million (1992 est.)

@Belarus:Transportation

Railways:
total: 5,488 km
broad gauge: 5,488 km 1.520-m gauge (873 km electrified) (1993)

Highways:
total: 52,131 km
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