Cigarettes, Beer to Disappear from Kiosks, Just As Kiosks Themselves :: Charter'97 :: News

Owners of over 2thsd Minsk commercial kiosks faced the threat of their business’s closure. Under the Minsk city hall’s decision, by July 1, 2003 the retail trade objects will disappear from the streets of Minsk. Instead the entrepreneurs are proposed to join hyper-markets or build their own stores. Minsk authorities refuse to embark on any compromises.

There’s a concept, under which the retail trade must gradually be moved to the hyper-markets and large trade centers and malls. However, the Minsk authorities seem unwilling to wait until they build hyper-markets around the Minsk city.

The first tide of liquidation of commercial kiosks subsided in late 2001, when they liquidated around 1thsd kiosks throughout the city. Then they went on to shut down another 1,700 kiosks, mostly in the downtown. Now there came the turn of the rest.

“Individual entrepreneurs, who will pay single tax, are slightly over 23thsd. On January 1 in Minsk there were 59thsd private entrepreneurs. Where are the rest? In the department of entrepreneurship of the Minsk city hall we were told that over 20thsd submitted applications for liquidation of their business,” – Radio Svaboda was told by Vice-President of the Belarusian union of entrepreneurs Grigory Rylkov.

According to Rylkov’s calculations, as a result of such curtailment in the number of regular law-abiding tax-payers the city will be losing up to 10mln euros a month.

Now entrepreneurs are gathering signatures in support of their business and sending their appeals to the government, Lukashenko and international organizations. However, the fruitfulness of these actions is doubtful, and so they call on everyone to join the People’s March “For Better Life!” on March 12.