The Debts of the Flagship Enterprises of Belarus Reached a Record Level

It has already exceeded the size of the entire economy of the country.

Major Belarusian enterprises continue to accumulate huge debts. In 2020, this process has only accelerated, banki24.by writes.

As of August 1, the total debts of large and medium-sized enterprises in the country amounted to BYN 148.4 billion. According to the January forecast of the Ministry of Economic, Belarus' GDP for the year may amount to 143.5 billion BYN.

Thus, the debts of the flagship enterprises are already greater than the size of the economy. Since the beginning of the year, total debts have increased by 11.7%. At the same time, for the whole of 2019, the growth was 7.4%, for 2018 - 10.7%.

Among the debts of enterprises, there are many foreign currency loans and borrowings. It turns out that due to the devaluation of the ruble, the liabilities of enterprises are growing much faster than before. In August, the "bunny" again depreciated against the basket of currencies of the National Bank. Therefore, on September 1, the historical record for the amount of debt will most likely be broken. Statistics for this date will appear in mid-October.

Total debt is the sum of loans, loan commitments, and accounts payable. Debts on credits and loans as of August 1 amounted to BYN 90.1 billion (+ 15%), credits - BYN 58.3 billion (+ 7%). In the territorial context, Minsk organizations owe the most (41.7 billion BYN).

Since the beginning of the year, the liabilities of the capital companies have grown by 13.6%. In the regions, the debt situation was as follows: Brest - 9.3 billion BYN, Viciebsk - 12.8 billion BYN, Homel - 24.1 billion BYN, Hrodna - 23.8 billion BYN, Minsk - 24 billion BYN, Mahilieu - 12, 7 billion BYN.

Relatively small commitments in the Brest region are explained by the fact that this area was less affected by the so-called complex modernization. In the Brest region, total debts since January 1 have increased by 9.8%, in Viciebsk - by 5.2%, in Homel - by 11%, in Hrodna - by 13.7%, in Minsk - by 16.6%, in Mahilieu - by 3.7%.

Almost half of the country's liabilities as of September 1 were concentrated by industrial enterprises (71.3 billion BYN), including mining - 2.6 billion BYN, manufacturing - 63.2 billion BYN, energy - 5.2 billion BYN. The total debts of the industry since the beginning of the year increased by 9.6%.

The leading sectors of the manufacturing industry in terms of debt volume were food processing (BYN 11.6 billion), wood and pulp processing (BYN 9.8 billion), as well as mechanical engineering (BYN 7.6 billion). Outside the industry, agriculture (BYN 15 billion), construction (BYN 18.6 billion), trade (BYN 17.4 billion) had significant liabilities.