Strong Belarusian rouble may lead to losses in food industry and machine building

In June and July 2015, the Belarusian rouble depreciated against the Russian rouble by 11.1%. Enterprises in mechanical engineering and food industry are the main exporters to Russia with the Russian rouble being the contract currency. For Belarusian exporters, strong national currency means less rouble revenues from exports, losses from the supply of low-margin products due to poor diversification of exports, deteriorating financial health of enterprises, potential problems with servicing loans, wage arrears, and reduced tax revenues. In order to reduce losses, enterprises may delay payments on export contracts, which in the short term would lead to reduced currency sales on the market.