On August 19, 2025, the newspaper Minskaya Pravda published an article titled “Belarusian industry: how the country shows stability and steady growth.”
Its author, Anastasia Ivanova, wrote that according to the latest data from Belstat, output in the first seven months of the year fell by three-tenths of a percent compared with the same period last year. The journalist concluded: “These figures show that growth is holding steady and that there is potential for further expansion in key sectors.”
But according to Belstat, industrial output in Belarus has been sliding since January and turned negative in April. By June, production was down 3% from the previous year. While industry still showed fractional growth in the first half of the year, by the seven-month mark it had already slipped into negative territory compared with the same period last year.
The newspaper Respublika also wrote about Belarusian industry: the year got off to a rocky start, but by midyear the situation had supposedly evened out.
“Production growth slowed, and exports ran into difficulties because of unfavorable shifts in key markets. But by midyear, the industrial sector apparently managed to stabilize and even showed signs of a positive trend,” wrote Vladimir Volchkov.
The author pointed to several positive indicators — growing profits and better returns. But he made no mention of the fact that since April the numbers have been heading downward.
Finished goods have been piling up in warehouses, while exports have dropped. The only bright spot was that after a sharp drop in January, exports edged up by May — though they still failed to recover to last year’s levels. Belarus imports more than it sells abroad. And while Alexander Lukashenko often talks about problems selling to the Russian market, Belstat data show the steepest decline is in exports to countries outside the CIS. Imports from those countries, meanwhile, are on the rise.
