6 voblastsi (singular - voblasts') and one municipality* (harady, singular - horad); Brestskaya (Brest), Homyel'skaya (Homyel'), Horad Minsk*, Hrodzyenskaya (Hrodna), Mahilyowskaya (Mahilyow), Minskaya, Vitsyebskaya (Vitsyebsk); note - when using a place name with the adjectival ending 'skaya' the word voblasts' should be added to the place name.
note: voblasti have the administrative center name following in parentheses.
Population:
10,350,194 (July 2001 est.)
Currency:
Belarusian ruble (BYB/BYR)
Languages:
Byelorussian, Russian, other
Elevation:
highest point: Dzyarzhynskaya Hara 346 m
lowest point: Nyoman River 90 m
Climate:
cold winters, cool and moist summers; transitional between continental and maritime
Belarus has seen little structural reform since 1995, when President LUKASHENKO launched the country on the path of "market socialism." In keeping with this policy, LUKASHENKO reimposed administrative controls over prices and currency exchange rates and expanded the state's right to intervene in the management of private enterprise. In addition to the burdens imposed by extremely high inflation, businesses have been subject to pressure on the part of central and local governments, e.g., arbitrary changes in regulations, numerous rigorous inspections, and retroactive application of new business regulations prohibiting practices that had been legal. Further economic problems are two consecutive bad harvests, 1998-99, and persistent trade deficits. Close relations with Russia, possibly leading to reunion, color the pattern of economic developments. For the time being, Belarus remains self-isolated from the West and its open-market economies.
Industry:
metal-cutting machine tools, tractors, trucks, earth movers, motorcycles, television sets, chemical fibers, fertilizer, textiles, radios, refrigerators
Ethnicgroups:
Byelorussian 81.2%, Russian 11.4%, Polish, Ukrainian, and other 7.4%
Vaccination requirements:
No vaccination requirements for any international traveller.
