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Is Belarus among the world's top 10 industrial nations? Fact-checking Georgy Grits' claims
CTV explained what defines Belarus as an industrial nation.
On the CTV show "To the Point", economic analyst Georgy Grits claimed that Belarus is among the world’s top 10 economies in the real sector. But data from both the World Bank and Belstat tell a different story.
Discussing industrial cooperation with Russia on CTV, economic analyst Georgy Grits said that Belarus’ level of industry in the economy is twice the global average.
“We are among the top 10 countries in the real sector of the economy. That is, in manufacturing — top 10. Globally, industry averages about 31%, but here it’s 65%,” Grits said on the July 21, 2025, broadcast.
The economic analyst didn’t specify which ranking he was referring to. But journalists from the Weekly Top Fake project found a September 2024 publication with an infographic showing this information. It was supposedly based on World Bank data, which placed Belarus 10th among countries by industry’s share of GDP.
But WTF journalists checked the World Bank database and found that Belarus actually ranks 19th worldwide, between Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, with a share of 20%.
Puerto Rico leads the world with industry making up 44% of its GDP. No country in the world has a 65% share. For context, industry accounts for 18% of Germany’s GDP, 15% in Poland, 13% in Russia, and just 10% in the US.
According to Belstat, the figure for Belarus is slightly higher than the World Bank reports—25%. [*] That number has barely budged in the past 20 years — moving just a couple of percentage points — with a record high of almost 32% in 2011. [*]
The presenter referred to the cost of the basic food basket. Over the past two years, the price of the Polish basket has risen by 7%, while the price of the Belarusian basket has risen by around 15%.
It won’t cost you anything!1.5% of your taxes in Poland can support the work of the Belarusian Investigative Center
When filing your PIT tax return in Poland, you can allocate 1.5% of the taxes you’ve already paid to any non-profit organization. That means you can choose to support the work of the Belarusian Investigative Center with your 1.5%.
When completing your PIT, enter BIC’s details in the section “1.5% podatku dla OPP.” Here’s what you need to include in your declaration:
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