In January-September resident-companies of the free economic zones (FEZ) of Belarus had a $29.6mn surplus in trade in goods. It is down 2.8 times over the same period of 2008, it was learnt from the National Statistics Committee.

In January-September the free economic zones exported $790.8mn worth of goods, down 33.5% from the same period last year. Export to the CIS made up $695.6 million (88% of the total export), including to Russia $604.6 million (76.5%). The biggest export items were plastics containers, accounting for 9.8% of the total export, and furniture (6.8%).

In January-September resident-companies of the free economic zones imported $763.9 million worth of goods, down 33.7% over January-September 2008. Imports from the CIS member states totaled $573.1 million (75% of the total volume).

In January-September the resident-companies of the free economic zones reduced the industrial output by 7.8% over the same period 2008.

In January-September the proceeds from the sales of products, works and services of the FEZ companies exceeded Br5 trillion, up 0.4% from the same period of 2008. The amount of taxes paid to the budget and off-budget funds decreased by 11.4%. The number of loss-making companies remains high, 22.4%.

A nominal monthly wage of a FEZ worker made up Br974,000 in January-September 2009.

The industry accounted for 96% of the total investments put in the free economic zones in January-September. The investments in trade and public catering reached 2.8%.

As of 1 October 2009 a total of 276 organizations were registered as residents of the free economic zones of Belarus. The bulk of the residents has been registered in the Minsk Free Economic Zone (27.5% of the total) and the Brest Free Economic Zone (22.8%).

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