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No progress on businesses' proposal for liberalization of prices

The Belarusian authorities are not responding to businesses' push for the removal of price caps, Alyaksandr Kalinin, chairman of the Belarusian Union of Entrepreneurs, said at a meeting in Minsk on Wednesday.

He said that the situation was particularly tough for importers, and vendors of flowers.

"We have analyzed the operation of 18 companies," Mr. Kalinin said. "Their retail costs reach 80 to 95 percent of the prime costs. We have tabled a proposal about the matter to the economy ministry and are waiting for a result."

He recalled that two business associations had urged the authorities earlier this fall to soften penalties for minor offenses committed by small businesses.

The associations suggested scrapping fines for errors in primary documents, cutting fines for "technical" violations, introducing warnings against offenses for sole entrepreneurs and legal entitles, and reducing the keeping time for primary documents, excluding documents regarding wages, from 10 to five years.

"Companies are paying significant costs for keeping such documents, which neither the company nor regulatory authorities need," Mr. Kalinin said.

He expressed hope that the national legislature would debate the proposals at its spring session.
Mr. Kalinin said that the economy ministry had raised its ceilings for trade markups on imported goods' prices at the request of the business community earlier this fall. //BelaPAN