Evolutions in the Belarusian Economic System in 2010

There is a number of rumours about latest progress in economic transition and the attractiveness of doing business in Belarus. Some local economists claim that the Belarusian government who has been responsible for the conservation of the command economy for so long, has recently changed the direction of its economic policy. Is it true? What’s more, Belarusian media (especially the existing independent ones) are full of speculations concerning privatisation of domestic companies. Is it really worthwhile to draw attention to these issues? The aim of this article is to show that certain changes in the economic policy of Belarus have been taking place recently but they have not been profound and the speed of institutional reforms has not been significant. In fact, the authorities have achieved very little structural reforms through the whole period of transformation 1 – i.e. during the last 19 years 2. They tend to preserve the status quo in the economy as long as possible.