OREANDA-NEWS. March 29, 2010. The share of loss-making companies in Belarus increased to 17.4% of the total number as of February 1, 2010 from 16.8% as of February 1, 2009, told an official with the National Statistics Committee.

Net loss hiked 60% to 607 billion Belarusian rubles (Br).

The average return on sales in January 2010 was at 5.1%, down from 8.9% in January 2009.

In industry, the share of loss-makers was at 23.9% as of February 1, 2010, down 4.6 percentage points from last year. The average profitability of industrial enterprises amounted to 3.8% in January 2010, down from 8.2% in January 2009.

The share of loss-makers in the fuel industry rose to 35% in January 2010 from10%, and profitability rate was minus 17.3%, all the way down from 17.3%.

In agriculture, the share of loss-making enterprises was at 7.9% as of February 1, 2010, up from 5.6%. Return on sales fell to 5.4% from 10.4%.

The share of loss-makers in the transport sector, including pipeline transport, stood at 24.3% as of February 1, 2010, up from 20.7% as of February 1, 2009. The profitability of transport services increased to 2.9% from 1.1%.

In construction, there were 23.4% of loss-makers as of February 1, 2010 compared to 17.6% as of the same date in 2009. The profitability of the construction sector in the period decreased to 6% from 9.5% as of February 1, 2009.

The share of loss-making enterprises in the communication sector went down to 5.5% as of February 1, 2010 from 9.1% on February 1, 2009. The profitability of communication companies dropped 2.7 percentage points to 34.1%. (Br 2,976 - USD 1)