MINSK, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Belarus' gross domestic product (GDP) dropped by 2.9 percent in the first nine months of 2016, the National Statistics Committee said Monday.
Industrial production increased by 0.4 percent in the mining industry, but dropped by 1.3 percent in processing, by 3.6 percent in electricity, gas, steam, hot water and air conditioning supply, and by 7.9 percent in water supply, collection and pollution elimination.
The Belarusian authorities attributed the fall in industrial production to the country's severe dependence on external markets. The poor economic performance in Russia, the main trading partner of Belarus, has led to a significant drop in demand for Belarusian products.
