for almost 25% of GDP and 5.7% of total
agricultural output of former Soviet Union; employs 21% of the labor
force; in 1988 produced the following (in percent of total Soviet
production): grain (3.6%), potatoes (12.2%), vegetables (3.0%), meat
(6.0%), milk (7.0%); net exporter of meat, milk, eggs, flour, potatoes

Illicit drugs: illicit cultivator of opium poppy and cannabis; mostly
for the domestic market; transshipment point for illicit drugs to
Western Europe

Economic aid: $NA

Currency: Belarusian rubel (BR)

Exchange rates: Belarusian rubels per US$1 - 10,600 (end December
1994)

Fiscal year: calendar year

@Belarus:Transportation

Railroads:
total: 5,570 km in common carrier service; does not include industrial
lines
broad gauge: 5,570 km 1.520-m gauge (1990)

Highways:
total: 98,200 km
paved: 66,100 km
unpaved: earth 32,100 km (1990)

Inland waterways: NA km

Pipelines: crude oil 1,470 km; refined products 1,100 km; natural gas
1,980 km (1992)

Ports: Mazyr

Merchant marine:
note: claims 5% of former Soviet fleet

Airports:
total: 118
with paved runways over 3,047 m: 2
with paved runways 2,438 to 3,047 m: 18
with paved runways 1,524 to 2,437 m: 5
with paved runways under 914 m: 11
with unpaved runways over 3,047 m: 1
with unpaved runways 2,438 to 3,047 m: 6
with unpaved runways 1,524 to 2,438 m: 4
with unpaved runways 914 to 1,523 m: 9
with unpaved runways under 914 m: 62

@Belarus:Communications

Telephone system: 1,849,000 telephones (December 1991); 18
telephones/100 persons; 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); new investment centers on international
connections and business needs; the new BelCel NMT 450 cellular system
(a joint venture) is now operating in Minsk
local: NA
intercity: NA
international: international traffic is carried by the Moscow
international gateway switch and also by 2 satellite earth stations
near Minsk - INTELSAT (through Canada) and EUTELSAT (through the UK)

Radio:
broadcast stations: AM NA, FM NA, shortwave 0
radios: 3.14 million (5,615,000 with multiple speaker systems for
program diffusion)

Television:
broadcast stations: NA
televisions: 3.538 million

@Belarus:Defense Forces

Branches: Army, Air Force, Air Defen