Belarusian trade deficit narrows 83.3% to $75.8 mln in 2M

MINSK. April 28 (Interfax) - Belarus had a trade deficit of $75.8 million for the first two months of 2026, down 83.3% from a year earlier, the country's National Bank said.

The deficit narrowed as exports rose 13% to $8.15 billion while imports grew 7.2% to $8.22 billion.

Trade in goods and services rose 10% year-on-year to $16.37 billion.

The merchandise trade deficit fell 4.4% to $853.6 million. Merchandise trade grew 7.7% to $13.15 billion, with exports up 8.7% at $6.15 billion and imports rising 6.9% to $7 billion.

The services trade surplus grew 80% to $777.8 million. Services trade grew 20.5% to $3.23 billion, with exports rising 28.9% to $2 billion and imports up 9% to $1.22 billion.

"The export growth was driven by a favorable price environment for key Belarusian goods. Cooperation with distant countries also continued to develop with exports to Latin America and the Caribbean and Asia growing dynamically, by 27.9% and 21.3%," the government's press service said.

It also said services export growth rose on the back of transportation services, up 23.8%, construction services, up 25.4% and ICT services, up 20.2%.

Foreign trade rose 4.5% to $105.2 billion in 2025 with a deficit of $1.8 billion, up 18.3%. There was a trade surplus of $1.53 billion in 2024 compared with a surplus of $246.4 million in 2023.