No New Sole Proprietors Have Been Registered In Minsk For The Third Year

They’re not going to do it so far.

There are no new sole proprietors registered in Minsk still. A Zerkalo journalist got this information privately from the Department for Registration and Licensing of the General Department of Justice of the Minsk City Executive Committee. They indicated a “technical” reason.

“Registration of individual sole proprietors is not carried out in Minsk,” said representatives of the department. When asked if they intended to resume registration of sole proprietors in 2024, they answered that they had “no information”.

Recall that new sole proprietors have not been registered in Minsk since August 17, 2021. The Minsk City Executive Committee explained this with “technical reasons.” The same reason is still indicated on the website of the local executive committees.

Meanwhile, the number of sole proprietors continues to decline in Minsk. As of November 1, 70,700 sole proprietors were registered in the Belarusian capital city. This is 8.1% less than a year earlier. In this situation, sole proprietors lose the market. In January-October this year they accounted for 2.6% of retail turnover, and a year earlier - 4.6%. That is, sole proprietors cede the market to retail chains.

In the meantime, officials want to cut the list of activities for sole proprietors. Those entrepreneurs whose activities do not fall into this shortened list will be forced to either stop business or reorganize as a company. Thus, sole proprietors may be prohibited from engaging in wholesale trade and providing tourism services.