Price Controls and Trade Turnover Growth: Snapkou Outlines MART Priorities for 2026

First Deputy Prime Minister Mikalai Snapkou has outlined the key priorities of the Ministry of Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade for 2026. Speaking at the ministry’s annual board meeting, he focused on inflation control, trade turnover growth and the development of the consumer market, BelTA reports.

“Inflation is the most complex indicator in the economy — cross-sectoral, interdepartmental, dependent on many components, both external and internal. In the entire set of those responsible for achieving the inflation target, the Ministry of Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade is at the forefront,” he said.

At a recent meeting with the government, Alyaksandr Lukashenka recalled that the inflation target for 2026 had been set at no more than 7%, with an even better outcome if inflation does not exceed 5–6%.

The deputy prime minister called this target realistic and recommended paying special attention to cost-driven inflation and cost reduction.

“In my view, this is a realistic goal given external and internal factors and the current forecast. I would ask the ministry, for its part, to conduct a systematic analysis of inflation factors over previous years, including 2025, and to model its vision, forecast and assessment for 2026,” he noted.

Among the priorities for 2026, Snapkou named trade turnover growth and improving the efficiency of the consumer market. He stressed the need for market analysis, developing cooperation between manufacturers and retail chains, improving the performance of marketplaces selling domestically produced goods, and joint work with the State Committee for Standardisation on monitoring the quality of imports.

“An anticipatory view of the situation will allow us, first, to make the right management decisions and, second, to model various scenarios in the consumer market and propose solutions in a timely manner. Trade turnover growth and management of the consumer market are the most important tasks. Every economic decision should lead to an improvement in the lives of our country’s citizens. It is necessary to ensure saturation of the consumer market and fair prices. Above all through the Price Analysis Automated Information System, which is only just taking its first steps. In my view, this will be a powerful umbrella system that will allow us to truly see the movement of added value across all goods, works and services in the country. Accordingly, this will make it possible to form a fair price between the producer and retail, between imports and retail,” the deputy prime minister said.