Why Are Electronic Devices Becoming More Expensive In Belarus?

What does the consumer pay for?

Belarusians have long noticed that in neighboring countries - Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine - the costs for electric appliances are significantly less.

At the same time, experts note that this is not the limit, and smartphones, TV sets, and household appliances will become more expensive for our consumers.

The fact is that since April, the utilization fee has increased threefold - from 1% to 3% of the contract value of the goods. This growth has affected numerous goods imported into the country, including household appliances, TV sets, smartphones and other electronic devices. Legal importers of electronic appliances have already paid the utilization fee and included it in the price. Accordingly, the goods from the new lots will go by a new, higher price, according to naviny.by.

“From our point of view, a threefold increase in the utilization fee will lead to a noticeable increase in prices for legal technically complex products - in particular, smartphones, laptops, servers, TV sets,” said Dzmitry Ananiyeu, General Director of the Association of Information Technology Companies.

The business community has many questions not only about the sharp increase in the utilization fee. It is also unclear to market participants how it is determined.