BrazilSeven charts on the state of the Belarus economy
Based on a survey of more than 400 executives and business owners in Belarus, strategic consulting firm Civitta provides a broad perspective into the state of the country’s business landscape.
More than two thirds of companies in the Belarus believe that the state of the country’s economy is bad. In particular young business – start-ups and first generation family businesses – and organisations based in the capital city of Minsk are pessimistic on the situation and outlook.
Expectations of the future are even more pessimistic – more than 75% of private sector and almost half of state-owned organisations believe that the economic situation will deteriorate in the coming period.
The internal political crisis in Belarus is seen as the main source of economic meltdown, ahead of the Covid-19 crisis. Looking at what businesses and entrepreneurs need most to stay afloat, respondents point at economic support measures, postponement/reduction of taxes and social welfare payments, and better access to private sector funding.
Current government actions to support the economy are assessed by respondents as insufficient, and moreover, they are even believed to contribute to worsening the crisis. State-owned companies are less critical of government policy, but they also believe that the government should be doing more to aid an economy rebound.
Even if the current political crisis is resolved, a recovery of the economy back to the ‘normal state’ is not expected earlier than 2022. If however the political establishment remains in place, recovery is not expected until 2024 or later.
Companies are seeing their fortunes dip: revenues are falling, and profit margins are sliding. Around one fourth of companies have had to slash their headcount as part of necessary cost-cutting measures.
As a result of the economic malaise, nearly one fifth of Belarus-based companies are considering to relocate their business, although only 5% of this group are actually expected to do so. Two thirds of the potential leavers would prefer to return to Belarus once the outlook in the country improves.
More information? For further details on the state of the Belarus economy, see Civitta's full report on Calameo.
With over 300 consultants across 24 offices, Civitta is one of the leading management consulting firms in the Baltics and Central Eastern Europe. The consultancy conducted the study together with its market intelligence arm Satio.
