Guess the country (caution: it's a political thread).

[The Mad Viking]

Measuring the reduction of poverty alone is a very poor way to measure the vigor of an economy.

[Saras]

But if it is true, it's a nice thing to have, is it not?

SS

[Colon™]

In the other news, Lithuania reports growth of 2.3% last quarter (non annualised).

[Saras]

Originally posted by Colon
In the other news, Lithuania reports growth of 2.3% last quarter (non annualised).

Gray - Baltic, Orange - Vilnius stock exchange index, last 180 days

[Saras]

Originally posted by Saras
Gray - Baltic, Orange - Vilnius stock exchange index, last 180 days

That's vilnius, last 3 years I stopped owning any listed Vilnius equity two and a half years ago

[VetLegion]

Very nice growth

[Gangerolf]

The front page of my newspaper today:

"Litauen kjøper Norge"

which means

"Lithuania buys Norway"

way to go Lithuania

I guess

[Saras]

The dudes that actually "bought Norway", or perhaps just one listed company, Kitron, are actually former colleagues of mine

[Gangerolf]

Cool

here's the story (next year it'll probably be in lithuanian), maybe you'll recognise some names:

http://www.morgenbladet.no/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051111/OAKTUELT001/111110020

[Serb]

Originally posted by Saras
But if it is true, it's a nice thing to have, is it not?

SS

What do you mean - "if it is true"?
Why do you keep denying WB's reliability?
I don't know why you think they just reprinted Byelorussian data. From my understanding you don't need entire department of statistic for that kind of study. All you need is to send a group of experts in country X, where they will gather required info (wages and prices of 125 basic goods and services). Organizations like WB certanly care about their reputation, why should they use doubtfull sources?

[Serb]

Originally posted by The Mad Viking
Measuring the reduction of poverty alone is a very poor way to measure the vigor of an economy.

Well, in 2004 they had unprecedented 11% GDP growth. Their unemployement rate is only 2%.
Looks like their economy is dying.

[VetLegion]

Serb do you maybe have a table of Belorussian GDP growth spanning the 15 years from breakup of SU till today?

[Serb]

Unfortunately, I don't. But I've found a brief overview of their performance since break-up up to 2003 (notice, in 2004-2005 they are doing even better):

"Main Social and Economic Indicators of the Republic of Belarus

The Republic of Belarus is a dynamically developing European state. National economy is successfully developing, macroeconomic situation is stabilizing:


Belarus was the first among the countries of the Commonwealth of the Independent States to overcome the consequences of the crisis caused by the breaking-off of traditional trade and economic relations after the collapse of the Soviet Union. In 2002 the level of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) physical volume was analogous to that of 1991. No other CIS member state has achieved this yet;
during the last 7 years Belarusian GDP has increased by half;
for the 9 months of 2003 Belarusian GDP increased by 6 per cent compared to the same period of the previous year. Production of industrial goods increased by 6.6 per cent, of agricultural products – by 3.8 per cent;
for 7 years the annual increase of the GDP per capita exceeds 5 per cent; this is achieved in the situation where Belarus does not have access to the resources of international financial organizations since 1996;
share of exports in the GDP in 2002 was 57 per cent. Share of CIS countries in Belarusian exports is 54.7 per cent, share of European states – 34.8 per cent. For the 9 months of 2003 the total volume of Belarusian foreign trade increased by 26.1 per cent;
the country is among the first three CIS countries by the index of capital investments;
inflation level decreased 28 times during the last 10 years (from 971 per cent in 1992 to 34,8 per cent in 2002);
unemployment level decreased during the last 7 years to 3 per cent (in Europe and Central Asia this index varies from 2.9 to 17.9 per cent);
in 2002 deposits of the population into ruble accounts increased twice, and 1,5 times into the foreign currency accounts;
external debt of Belarus is among the lowest among the transition economies and in 2002 was on the level of 5.6 per cent of the GDP.

In 2001 Human Development Report by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) "Making New Technologies Work for Human Development" Belarus holds the 28th place by the number of patents per 1 mln. of population, leaving behind practically all the states of the Central and Eastern Europe as well as such developed countries as Canada, Spain and Italy.

By the exports of high and mid-level technologies as a share in the total volume of exports of goods Belarus holds 27th place among the UN members and is ahead of such developed nations as Norway, Greece, Portugal, Australia, New Zealand. Among the Central and East European states Belarus is behind only four states: Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia and Slovakia.

In 2002 the 20 per cent growth of the new technologies sector in Belarus surpassed in its pace all other industries.

The overall length of wide bandwidth information highways in Belarus exceeds 25000 kilometers (15600 miles). By the end of 2005 every Belarusian district center will be connected by optic fiber lines.

The number of Internet users increased during the last 3 years 15-fold and is 816 users per 10 000 of population. In Russia this number is 409, in Ukraine – 119, in Kazakhstan – 93.

Belarus is ahead of all CIS states and its nearest neighbors in terms of landline telephone penetration. There are 80 phone numbers per 100 families while in Russia and Ukraine there are only 53 phone numbers per 100 families.

In the 2002 report by the European Bank for Reconstruction and development on transition economies the experts note the improved analytical indicators in Belarus in 2001-2002 that reflect speeding-up of transition to market, creation of stable business climate, liberalization of the trade regime, development of banking and financial sectors, creation of market-oriented legislation.

Indices and indicators calculated by the EBRD reflect a substantial progress in small-scale privatization in Belarus. The result of recognition by the EBRD of the Belarusian Government policy of developing cooperation with international organizations, and readiness of the Bank itself to assist the process of transformations was a decision in September 2003 to issue to Belarusian "PriorBank" a syndicated loan of US$36 mln. for financing small and medium size enterprises.

Belarus has achieved a substantial progress in protection of the intellectual property. Accession to the basic international treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization on copyright and on performances and phonograms at the same time as the USA, active work of Belarusian law enforcement agencies to prevent and stop violations in this area positively distinguishes Belarus among other CIS member states. The report by the US Trade Representative on the issues of protection of intellectual property rights in foreign countries notes that situation in this area in Belarus is better than in Russia.

In the 2003 Human Development Report by UNDP Belarus has climbed up three positions in the rating of countries by the Human development index and occupies the 53rd place (out of 175). This year Belarus has first entered the group of countries with high level of development. In this indicator Belarus is ahead of all CIS states (Russia has 63rd place, Ukraine – 75th, Kazakhstan – 76th, Georgia – 88th) and is also ahead of such European states as Bulgaria, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, Albania and Turkey.

Independent experts say that Belarus cares about its citizens more that other CIS states, spending 6 per cent of GDP on education, 4.7 per cent on health care (as compared to 4.4 and 3.8 per cent in Russia, 4.4 and 2.9 per cent in Ukraine, 4.2 and 0.6 per cent in Azerbaijan). By the share of spending on education and healthcare Belarus is ahead of many developed countries. By the number of medical doctors per 100 thousand of population Belarus is ahead of the USA, Great Britain, Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland, France and Japan. Belarus is above the average level of infant mortality (16 per 1000 in Belarus compared to the average 25 of 1000 for Europe and Central Asia) and access to clean water (100 per cent in Belarus compared to the Europe and Central Asia average of 91 per cent). Spending on healthcare as a share of GDP in Belarus is higher than in Greece, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia. Share of state spending on education in Belarus exceeds the same indicator of the USA, Japan, Italy, Czech Republic and some other states (literacy rate of Belarusians over 15 years of age is 100 per cent).

The UNDP report also quotes that the crime rate in Minsk compared to the total population in lower than in Budapest, Bratislava, Prague, Bucharest, Vilnius, Kiev, Moscow and some other capitals.

According to the data of the World Markets Research Center (London) which made in 2003 the analysis of the terrorist threat level in different countries, Belarus together with Andorra, Lichtenstein and Slovenia closes the list prepared by British specialists (181 position).

The annual report “The Index of Corruption Perception” presented by the organization “Transparency International” (October 2003) says that Belarus is the least corrupted country in CIS (53d position out of 133).

In 2001 migration increase was 9 085 people (the quantity of people arrived in Belarus – 23 355, people left – 14 270), in 2002 – 5 561 people (18 939 and 13 378 accordingly). The main migration exchange occurs with Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan. 90 per cent of migrants arrive from these countries.

The dynamic development of economy, guarantied right on paid work, inter-ethnic and inter-confessional stability in the society make Belarus more attractive for migrates: only in the first half of 2003 the number of foreigners who came to Belarus to work on the basis of agreements and contracts, increased twice. The geography of external labor migration is also expanding: in January-July of this year people from Austria, Great Britain, Italy, Croatia, Ukraine, Tajikistan and India came to Belarus."

http://mfa.gov.by/eng/index.php?d=belarus&id=2

[VetLegion]

That's interesting (it seems from a government site).

The only thing that seems outright out of place is the unemployement level. 3%? Very healthy capitalist economies have more (about 5%). This suggests that Belarus economy is still largely state owned.

Which is not bad per se, but it has been shown time and time again that state is a bad manager. How do these companies manage to survive competing, for example, with enterprises which are not required to maintain an artificial unemployment rate?

The only possibilities seem to me to be either:
a) the private sector is being plundered to pay for their upkeep/subsidy, either through taxes or monopolies

b) the state is borrowing money abroad (it isn't) or

c) that Byelorussians have found a way to make state owned companies work.

[Bosh]

And you actually believe the Belorussian's government's statistics?