MINSK, 5 July (BelTA) – High inflation in neighboring countries affects prices in Belarus, too, BelTA learned from Belarusian Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade Minister Aleksei Bogdanov on 5 July.
Aleksei Bogdanov said: “In January-May 2022 inflation in Belarus totaled 17%. It is less than 17.1% in the Russian Federation. At the same time inflation in Turkey from where we import many fruits and vegetables has already reached 80%. The European market is also in turmoil. Inflation over there exceeded 8% on the average in June. Inflation is virtually 20% in the neighboring Baltic states and Poland. All of it undoubtedly affects the situation in Belarus, too. Because we import some goods from these regions.”
In his words, the program on price stabilization and pricing control the government and the State Control Committee passed on 5 July includes control over merchandise import among other things. “The government's job is to enable conditions for easier import of the goods, which are not made in Belarus. I am talking about parallel import, simplification of customs and administrative procedures, and the reduction of tariffs. These measures will contribute to the import of foreign products at lower prices,” the antimonopoly regulation and trade minister noted.
BelTA reported earlier that the Council of Ministers and the State Control Committee have approved an action program designed to stabilize prices, improve pricing methods, and monitor compliance with pricing legislation in 2022. This strategic plan envisages taking a number of measures by the end of the year in order to saturate the domestic market with goods (legalization of parallel import, development of a set of measures to make import-substituting agricultural products, improvement of the long-term food storage system), improve economic and administrative regulations (transition to payments for energy resources in Russian rubles, revision of cost reduction programs, improvement of public procurement, update of the list of goods subject to price regulation), improve pricing methodology and oversight activities. The government also intends to introduce a single centralized digital platform in the social sphere, extend the agreement on retail discounts for certain population categories, implement a price monitoring mechanism for imported goods, and introduce an analytical price monitoring system by controlling cash registers.
Most of the planned measures are at a high stage of readiness, some are already being implemented.
