Sergey Kondratiev, Deputy Head of the Economic Department of the Institute for Energy and Finance, gave a comment to the BBC Russian service on the economic cooperation between Russia and Belarus.
According to analysts at the Russian Institute for Energy and Finance, Russian energy subsidies fell to as low as 0.9% of GDP in 2020 due to declining physical volumes of supplies and falling global oil and natural gas prices. But in 2021, the size of export duties returned to 5.7% of GDP - due to an increase in the difference in prices for cheaper Russian gas for Belarus and the cost of gas in Europe.
As a result, the volume of energy subsidies for Belarus in 2021 will amount to $ 3.5 billion, Sergey Kondratiev said. In total, energy subsidies for Belarus have exceeded $ 50 billion since 2012.
From May of this year, it will be difficult to estimate the amount of energy subsidies provided by Russia, because the government of Belarus has stopped publishing data on the import and export of oil, oil products and natural gas. Kondratiev suggests that this is due to the US-imposed sanctions against the Belarusian energy sector.
The increase in energy subsidies, which Belarus claims, is unprofitable for Russia, the expert believes. Belarus insists on providing "equal" conditions for its enterprises, wants to receive Russian energy resources at domestic Russian prices, without incurring the costs of reproducing the resource base or ensuring the operation of infrastructure and cities in the north.
Subscribe for updates
and be the first to know about new publications