Alachnovič, Ales; Korosteleva, Julia; (2023) Stolen Decades: The Unfulfilled Expectations of the Belarusian Economic Miracle. In: Korosteleva, Elena and Petrova, Irina and Kudlenko, Anastasiia, (eds.) Changing Belarus in the XXI century: between dictatorship and democracy. Routledge: London, UK.

Preview

Text (Chapter 5 [Part II]) CH5. Alachnovic&KOrosteleva_Stolen decades_Belarus_manuscript.pdf - Other Download (859kB) | Preview

Abstract

The case of the Belarusian economy has puzzled many scholars for years. Belarus was often referred to as a transition outlier, given its fast recovery in 1996 and spectacular growth prior to the global financial crisis without much transformation of its economy. Three decades after gaining its independence, state control of the economy remains considerably high. Subsidised financing of state-owned enterprises allowed them to preserve production capabilities over the first decade, achieve some productivity gains in the late 1990s–early 2000s, and avoid social destabilisation. However, with a delay in structural reforms, this economic model, also heavily dependent on Russian subsidies and foreign debt, has become fatigued, driving the economy into stagnation in the 2010s. The COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 post-presidential political crisis and Russia's war in Ukraine put further strains on the economy, calling for change. This chapter gives a brief overview of the Belarusian economic developments before the 2020 presidential election to have a better understanding of how various rigidities of the Belarusian economic model have amplified the detrimental effect of the political unrest on the economy and the Belarusian society in general. It also discusses the anti-crisis and economic reforms Belarus will have to undergo to recover and stabilise.

Download activity - last month

Export as JSONCSVXML

Download activity - last 12 months

Export as CSVJSONXML

Downloads by country - last 12 months

Export as XMLJSONCSV

Archive Staff Only

View Item