Harbachou: 52 thousand entrepreneurs have left Belarus for 7 years

Each 5-th of those businessmen who stayed works “in shade”.

“Approximately 15-20% of entrepreneurs registered all over the country – conduct shade business, which is absolutely hidden and gives no income to the state budget. And it could have operated openly, could have been useful if there had been other conditions...

Partly, those who had no fear established private unitary enterprises, entered big business. The point is - those, who had many registered employees, simply registered them as smaller individual entrepreneurs, authorizing them to be responsible for some part of their business management.

The authorities claim now- we register 3-5 thousand entrepreneurs per year. But they are the same people who used to be employees and got fired by us, for half of the year we returned 80% of those who were fired”, - the leader of the public association “For Free Development of Entrepreneurship” Viktar Harbachou told in his interview to “Euroradio”.

According to Harbachou’s words, 226 thousand entrepreneurs are officially registered in Belarus today. For the last two years their number has increased by 6 thousand.

“These 6 thousand, as I said before, basically, are the same people who had been hired and came back. However, entrepreneurship includes partly young people who graduate from higher educational establishments, and find no application to their skills, do not go anywhere by allocation, but try to launch their own businesses. Young people try to find their place in simpler spheres, which possibly will be required in the West in order to move there later”, - says the entrepreneur.

According to his words, since the year 2003 - 52 thousand entrepreneurs who had their own businesses here left Belarus.

“52 thousand entrepreneurs left the country for ever – not just moved their businesses abroad, they left for the countries, where they opened their businesses, for permanent residence. And it is a continuous stream, people leave for where they can.

Statements, that there is liberalization with regard to an entrepreneur, are just statements”, - Viktar Harbachou remarked.