Belarus is a presidential republic with a bicameral Parliament (Natsionalnoye Sobranie) composed of the Chamber of Representatives and the Council of the Republic.
It is a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Organisation for Democracy and Economic Development (GUAM) and the Organisation of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC).
Having gained independence from what was the Soviet Union in 1990, Belarus is a founder member of the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union, which was formalised in 2015. Belarus benefits from Russian support in the form of cheap energy and other subsidies which are unofficially estimated as equivalent to 15% of Belarus’s GNP.
Belarus has maintained state control over key industries, including banking, although a gradual process of privatisation is under way.
Unlike other countries in Eurasia, Belarus has shown no inclination in joining the European Union, but instead maintains a bilateral relationship, and Belarus participates in the Eastern Partnership and Baku Initiative, which are aimed at fostering discussions over trade, economic strategies and other issues of interest.
Political tensions between Belarus and neighbouring countries deepened in 2020 with the disputed 2020 presidential election, with sanctions being imposed on Belarus by the EU, Canada, the UK and the US, citing election interference and political oppression.
Although digital banking penetration remains low compared to the rest of the Eurasian region, internet penetration has risen sharply in Belarus in recent years, , while the mobile phone penetration was 123.86% as of 2021. Banks in Belarus have put digital channels at the centre of their growth strategies, while refocusing their branch networks to offload more transactions to online. In tandem with this, internationally-accepted mobile payment services like Apple Pay have been launched in Belarus.
The use of central bank digital currencies is an active area of development In Belarus, with the central bank encouraging initiatives making use of blockchain technology.
STATISTICAL KEY FIGURES FOR 2021 PROVIDED IN THIS PROFILE:
NEW in 2023:
- The full impact of COVID-19 on digital payments, card payments, e-commerce and m-commerce by market.
- Real-time payments infrastructure and growth statistics by market.
- Open Banking infrastructure, API roll-out, key players and key initiatives by market.
- Contactless and mobile payments statistics by market.
- Cryptocurrency, stablecoin and CBDC initiatives by market.
- Full update on bank channel digitisation by market.
- Forecasting column added for all the major tables.
- Reader-friendly design with enhanced data visualisation.
- Industry developments and bank deployments of eID, biometrics and AI.
- The integration of digital challengers and neobanks into the banking infrastructure.
Updates For 2022-23:
- Updated - Bank M&As, restructuring and market positioning. Customer number KPIs and adoption of digital channel KPIs.
- Updated - Mobile banking apps and digital wallet initiatives.
- Updated - PSPs by individual country.
- Updated - Real-time payments uptake and QR code payments rollout.
- Updated - Card fraud in Europe and by individual country.
- Updated - Non-bank cards and co-brands.
- Highlighting the new trends in the payment industry by individual country:
- Contactless, mobile NFC, QR code, mPOS, SoftPOS services
- Display cards, contactless ATMs, biometric authentication
- Digital wallets, in-app payments, mobile in-store payments
- Instant payments
- eID initiatives
Cryptocurrency and CBCD initiatives
- Updated: tables with card business data 2017-2021; growth rates: Y-o-Y, CAGR + Forecasting column
- Population, Cards per Capita, Card Value per Capita
- Debit Cards, Credit/Delayed Debit Cards, Total Cards
- Card payments by number and by value, ATV per card, payments per card/year
- ATMs, POS terminals, ATMs/POS terminals per 1 million capita
- ATM withdrawals by number/by value, ATV per withdrawal, TXs per ATM/month
- POS payments by number/by value, ATV per POS payment, TXs per POS/month
- Internet Use, e-payment mix, B2C e-Commerce by value and growth rate
- Issued Card brands by individual major issuer bank
- Accepted card brands by individual major acquirer
- Drill down into the debit card use and credit cards use details
PRODUCT INFORMATION
Digital product provided in PDF format. You will receive a download link to a zip file containing your files after checkout.
Methodology
The publisher's research is collated over a year from Primary sources across all European and Eurasian markets. They use the ECB, BIS as well as annual reports from the European banks and listed companies, consulting platforms and major accounting firms along with a combined 100 years of experience in the payments industry analysing and commenting on the data.
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