MOSCOW, 11 March (BelTA) – The industrial sector of Belarus lost over $1 billion in 2020 due to pandemic-related restrictions. The figure was mentioned by Belarusian First Deputy Industry Minister Sergei Gunko during a videoconference roundtable held on 11 March to discuss the negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the CIS economies, BelTA has learned. The roundtable session was held as part of the international forum timed to the 30th anniversary since the foundation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
According to the source, the Belarusian industry lost slightly more than $1 billion in 2020 due to problems caused by restrictions on freight transportation and violations of contracts.
Sergei Gunko reminded that the Belarusian government had decided not to suspend the operation of enterprises. The decision allowed Belarus to avoid a decrease in industrial output unlike other countries. “Within the first two months we fully remodeled the operation of government agencies and enterprises. We virtually put them on a war footing. The situation involving suppliers of components, primarily from European countries, could change within hours. There were problems with financial transactions because some banks stopped working in European countries,” the official said. This is why Belarusian companies had to find alternative suppliers in the Commonwealth of Independent States to replace European partners.
Meanwhile, Belarusian industrial enterprises, particularly those that use assembly lines, were busy taking sanitary precautions, trying to separate personnel shifts and human traffic in transport. Remote jobs were introduced. Critical sectors of enterprises were identified, with part of the workforce assigned to work on odd days and part of the workforce assigned to work on even days in order not to lose the competences the uninterrupted operation of the enterprises required. “This is the way we lived in the first few months. We switched the country's entire industry to manual control,” Sergei Gunko noted.
At the same time Belarusian enterprises had to localize and replace the components they could no longer obtain. The organization of immediate production of medical goods, medical devices, and means of individual protection was taken care of as well. “Actually, we did rather well back then. Many enterprises could occupy the markets where third countries used to supply imported components and imported machines and equipment. At present Belarusian enterprises boast quite a good level of production of medical goods.”
According to Sergei Gunko, COVID-19 was kind of a stress test. It revealed the weakest points in the modern real world. He mentioned manufacturing cooperation ties, which tended to break within days. “Maybe time has come for the Commonwealth of Independent States to put together an industrialization map, fill it with competences, and even create strategic reserves in some places. By the way, many Belarusian enterprises have strategic minimal reserves of components, which will keep them working in a lockdown mode,” the official said.
“Today we absolutely need the industrialization map, a map for replacing competences from faraway countries with local markets. It will allow reviving the national economies and making integration more profound,” the Belarusian first deputy industry minister said.
