Electricity - capacity: 7.21 million kW (1994)
Electricity - production: 23.7 billion kWh (1996)
Electricity - consumption per capita: 2,553 kWh (1995 est.)
Agriculture - products: grain, potatoes, vegetables; meat, milk
Exports: total value: $5.2 billion (f.o.b., 1996) commodities: machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, foodstuffs partners: Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Germany
Imports: total value: $6.8 billion (c.i.f., 1996) commodities: fuel, natural gas, industrial raw materials, textiles, sugar partners: Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Germany
Debt - external: $2 billion (September 1995 est.)
Economic aid: recipient: ODA, $186 million (1993) note : commitments, $3,930 million ($1,845 million disbursements), 1992-95
Currency: Belarusian ruble (BR)
Exchange rates: Belarusian rubles per US$1 - 16,613 (September monthly average 1996),15,500 (yearend 1996), 11,500 (yearend 1995), 10,600 (yearend 1994), 699 (yearend 1993), 15 (yearend 1992)
Fiscal year: calendar year
@Belarus: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: 51,547 km paved: 50,825 km unpaved: 722 km (1995 est.)
Waterways: NA km; note - Belarus has extensive and widely used canal and river systems
Pipelines: crude oil 1,470 km; refined products 1,100 km; natural gas 1,980 km (1992)
Ports and harbors: Mazyr
Merchant marine: note: claims 5% of former Soviet fleet (1995 est.)
Airports: 118 (1996 est.)
Airports - with paved runways: total: 36 over 3,047 m : 2 2,438 to 3,047 m: 18 1,524 to 2,437 m: 5 under 914 m: 11 (1996 est.)
Airports - with unpaved runways: total: 82 over 3,047 m: 1 2,438 to 3,047 m : 6 1,524 to 2,437 m: 4 914 to 1,523 m: 9 under 914 m: 62 (1996 est.)
The 1997 Cia World Factbook · The Wunder Library — complete classics, free to read, with narration.