Belarus was forced to give up its own industrial production so that it would be dependent like other European countries. But we have survived, built a nuclear power plant, flew to space, and we are about to release vaccines. And we surpassed even Austria in this! That was a brief history of the development of the Belarusian industry as recounted by Marat Markau, head of ONT. Here's what he said:
“In principle, we can be proud of these things today. For a country with a population of 10 million people... Come on, Austria, a similar country. And let's just name, who among you knows similar industries in Austria. Which of you will name these things?”
For the record, Austria produces weapons, has its own satellites in space and even built a nuclear power plant. GDP per capita in terms of purchasing power parity is about 3 times higher than in Belarus.
In Austria, industry accounts for 26% of GDP. In Belarus - 32%. But if we take a look at the industrial competitiveness ranking, Austria is in 14th place, while Belarus is only 46th.