Lukashenka’s Trade Worries

The share of Belarusian goods in the country's retail trade has fallen to its lowest level in the last decade.

Despite this, the authorities expect to sharply increase this figure this year and erase the decade-long decline. This follows from data published by the Ministry of Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade (MART).

“Manufacturers noted positive dynamics of deliveries to the domestic market in 2024, an increase in the presence of products in retail outlets,” the MART reported following a seminar at which the situation with the availability of Belarusian goods in retail was discussed, Zerkalo writes.

However, data for the last decade on the share of such products, published by the department, show a completely opposite picture. Last year, the share of both food and non-food products of domestic production in trade was minimal in the last ten years.

If we talk about products, Belarusian products accounted for 76.3% in trade. And in 2015 — 82.2%. The share of non-food domestic goods during the same period decreased from 51.1% to 37.3%.

In general, the share of Belarusian goods in all positions last year was 56.4%, and in 2015 it was 69.1%.

Despite such indicators, the Ministry of Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade hopes for a sharp increase in 2025. The ministry's forecasts include increasing the share of domestic goods to 63%, and food products should occupy a record 85% of the market. That is, higher than ten years ago.

On June 17, 2024, Aliaksandr Lukashenka drew attention to the problem in foreign trade: it worries him. On the same day, then Prime Minister Raman Halouchanka (now he heads the National Bank) explained why imports of goods exceed exports. In his opinion, “there is no catastrophe.” “If we talk about the reasons, they are also prosaic: the world price of oil has increased, and accordingly, we are buying crude oil, so this has played a role in increasing the cost of imports,” Raman Halouchanka stated back then.

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