New MART Head Says All Retail Is “Essentially State-Owned”

Reform.news Editorial Team · 28 September 2026, 14:16

https://reform.news/en/new-mart-head-says-all-retail-is-essentially-state-owned/

New Minister of Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade Aliaksandr Yakouchyts said after his appointment that all retail trade in Belarus is essentially state-owned. Lukashenka has made similar statements, saying that all businesses in the country are state-owned, regardless of their ownership structure.

“We need to ensure that the domestic market and national producers are given priority, without disadvantaging those who operate in the domestic market in good faith and supply us with quality products.

Dialogue with producers (since national producers are already manufacturing sufficiently competitive goods, primarily in terms of quality and price) and dialogue with retail representatives. Our retail sector, regardless of ownership structure, is essentially state-owned. And I am confident that every retail chain manager understands the tasks set by the president. That is why this dialogue and the alignment of interests are important. These are the main tools at our disposal,” he said.

It should be recalled that private enterprises dominate Belarus’s retail market. In the first half of 2026, the state sector, including companies in which the state holds less than a 50% stake, accounted for 11.9% of total retail turnover, down 0.6 percentage points from a year earlier.

Yakouchyts also said he would focus on price regulation.

“The president has set the task of ensuring that people do not have to raise questions about pricing. This is a key area and one of the ministry’s main priorities, since prices must be affordable for citizens, while recognising that affordability means different things to different people,” he said.

According to him, amid a reduction in the number of goods subject to price regulation, “monitoring the conduct of all participants involved in determining prices in the domestic market” is important.