"Today We Are Not Talking About Business, We're Talking About Survival Of Families"

The authorities are pushing entrepreneurs to the square.

Starting July 9, private entrepreneurs will be forbidden to use cash currency to buy goods abroad. Experts already call this decree a catastrophe for small business. Iryna Yaskevich, entrepreneur from Vitsebsk, has given an expert assessment of the situation for Charter97.org.

- It's very simple, they have tried to close us down in different ways, because our state does not seem to need us. We have managed to get over the marking, certificates, but now people won't be able to buy goods in Russia for cash, because they simply can't order 5-10 pieces from several places. Private entrepreneurs won't have time and opportunity to do it, and Russian companies will not establish contacts with the Belarusian entrepreneurs because of the minimum volume of purchases.

Today some people, especially in the regions, trade only during weekends, that is why it is not even a question of whether there will be entrepreneurs or not, but that a lot of people will be left without jobs and money to live on. That's what's most frightening. We've been seeking some delay in penalties and inspections, but that's not going to save entrepreneurs anymore. No matter how many times you postpone the deadline for liability, it remains on the books. I believe that this decree 203/4 puts an end to the existence of entrepreneurs, especially in the regions.

Our agencies submit data that there are more entrepreneurs, but it's not true. They show in the same vinaigrette pile craftsmen, the self-employed, there is also an increase in the number of individual entrepreneurs as services, but the trade is closing. People who were keeping both feet on the ground, had several outlets, are only keeping one today. A lot of them become artisans simply because they need to earn money somehow and don't want to be unemployed, because various aspects have been tightened up for "parasites" as well. In general, this topic is so ungrateful and painful for people that we can talk about it ad infinitum, and July 9 is a certain milestone.

I do not understand one thing, because in addition to the fact that entrepreneurs pay a flat rate tax, regardless of whether they have earned something or not, they also pay a lot of indirect taxes. This includes the maintenance of their rental space, the salaries of those who serve them, the carriers, and so on. Entrepreneurship today is a fragile and vulnerable structure that is surviving, not living. I do not even know what can be done today to revive it.

Any increase of one ruble is already quite problematic for the trade, and against the background of coronavirus, the impossibility to purchase goods, everyone is surviving, people have taken out everything they could from their pockets. They are already using their parents' pensions, another family member's salary to pay the obligatory payments, and those who work at the markets together, who are both sole traders, they have practically no way out.

- At one time you used to hold successful campaigns at the markets of Vitsebsk and Vitsebsk district, thanks to which you got a complete picture of the sentiments among common people. What do the sellers and buyers at the markets of your region say about the policy of the authorities now?

- Unfortunately, everyone is used to the idea that suddenly everything changes at the last moment. Literally two days before the New Year they cancelled customs clearance for private entrepreneurs, they give some kind of easing just before the "X" hour. Earlier we were allowed to exchange money in exchange offices, to bring in goods for a certain amount of money, it used to save people.

The authorities say on TV that businesses will be destroyed, without specifying which ones. There is no war, no bombing, we are allegedly living in peace, but the plants are closing and the situation is deteriorating. When it's hard for business, the government should relax rules for it, reduce taxes and rent, and allow it to survive until better times. Private entrepreneurs have to take care of their own workplace, the people organize, pay and survive on their own, without any help. I would like to propose to the officials to buy a chair, a table, a computer and work at their workplace, since the state has not spent a single penny on the private entrepreneur, it only takes taxes. Today we are not talking about business, but about the existence of families.

- Lukashenka once said that he would shake hands with the last private entrepreneur. Why is the regime so afraid of private business and private initiative?

- You know, it is because of corruption, because their business is divided into segments, they have their own people in them. Even if we take a simple example, we all talk about fair conditions, then let's look at Euraopt. They have no certificates there, everything is piled together - children's underwear, and T-shirts, and everything else - an entrepreneur can't do that. If we take the six square meters of space owned by the proprietors (I understand they are close to the government) and see how much tax they pay, we can see how they "fill" the budget. It's impossible - a man, sitting in six square meters, pays tax and a bunch of indirect ones.

When they tell me about equal conditions, then I say, "Give us subsidies from the budget so that a man can get the minimum wage. Stop counting their revenue and income. No one gives them goods for free". Today it is necessary to understand - everyone is surviving, only some people ask for money from the budget in order to survive, while others have to look for their own ways out of the situation. Don't get in their way, let them live.

- The public association "Perspective" has stated that the majority of sole traders pays in cash and will not be able to meet the new conditions. What will happen next? Should we expect an increase in prices of some goods?

- I don't think there cannot be much of an increase in commodity prices for several reasons. People are happy to go to all sorts of second hand stores. These are stores with clothes from Asia that don't even have terminals where they don't give any checks, and then we see them in exchange offices when they buy up currency. It's very difficult to raise the cost of goods for the sole traders because they already have 3-4 customers in a week. If they raise more, then, sorry, what can be sold to beggarly people. People with money buy in stores, boutiques or abroad, and our neighbors are looking for where it's cheaper and who will give them a discount. Any reasonable entrepreneur would consider all his costs and probably try to make the price a little higher, but who is going to buy that.

I would also like to say that there will be cash registers, the cash register control system in the markets, you will also have to buy a small printer. And I look at these people and think, are you so far-out that you do not see the people who are trying to put the goods on two running meters to at least recoup their costs for today? Each cash register, printer is at least 5 rubles per service.

I believe that entrepreneurs, Belarusians, they want one thing - to live where they were born. We cannot say that it is a mistake in the entrepreneurial environment, that they have not readjusted, because the next step will be a mistake, saying what country you were born in, and that is already scary.

- What will happen to the range and availability of goods? Could the Belarusians in the regions face a deficit or rise in price of important goods, which will now be only in state-run stores?

- I think that today the deep regions, villages, small district centers survive thanks to the traveling trade. Some of the residents still go to wholesale shopping to "Svetafor" or "Euraopt", there they buy for themselves and their neighbor. Some of them buy nothing but groceries, so the state does not benefit at all if the entrepreneurs close. The authorities will give the vacant space to the same "Svetafor", "Euraopt" and clothing stores from Asia, which have quickly adapted.

Under our law, a person is not checked for two years so as not to interfere with the business, but before the end of the term, these companies change a letter in the name and become another organization. Then they are not inspected for two years again. It's a sad situation, but you have to understand that this lawlessness, the unwillingness to understand the sole traders, all this has been created by the authorities. Businesses do everything to comply with the conditions set by management, but it turns out that today it is one thing, tomorrow another one, and the day after that a third one.

Russian partners do not bear the same responsibility as our entrepreneurs do. They don't issue documents, they don't have certificates, and there is a deadline for the sale of surpluses. Let's say this product is not allowed starting tomorrow, so it means that you have six months to sell your leftovers. Fine, I go and buy their leftovers, but I can't sell these products here. Why is it impossible to sell permitted goods here? We all talk about product traceability, then why does no one raise the issue that if I go to Russia, copy the product's positions and codes there, then when I come home, I cannot put them on the books in our software. What is this? Is it the entrepreneur's fault? There are a lot of questions like that.

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