28 Oct 2013

growth & trade, innovation, energy & climate

Belarus, Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia, social impact, Trade, economic integration and globalization, WTO accession

A new publication within the "Belarus on the road to the WTO: Problems and Prospects" project

A new study within the Belarus on the road to the WTO: Problems and Prospects project, titled "Social effects of accession of Belarus to the WTO", has been published.

The paper aims at provision of quantitative assessment of consumption effect for separate groups of Belarus population, stemming from reduction of import duties, which was one of the effects of Russia’s accession to the WTO (due to the existing customs union between Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia). Analysis revealed that positive effect of reduction of import duties related to changes in prices and consumption of imported goods was marginal and evenly distributed among population. It was due to low scale of duties reduction especially at the moment of Russia’s entrance to the WTO, moderate share of import in consumption of goods subjected to significant reduction of import duties, and similar structure of consumption by different groups of population. One of the lowest positive consumption effects was observed for rural area inhabitants due to low share of consumption of imported food products by this group, especially compared to Minsk citizens.

This study is one of the nine activities carried out as part of this project and is one of three studies that relate to the WTO accession of Belarus.