Business news

MINSK, 6 December (BelTA) – The business climate of Belarus has significantly improved, Sergei Novitsky, Deputy Chairman of the Entrepreneurship Development Council, said at a press conference ahead of the EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2018 Awards ceremony, BelTA has learned.

According to Sergei Novitsky, this was achieved among other things thanks to the adoption of Decree No.7 “On the Promotion of Entrepreneurship” and Decree No.8 “On the Digital Economy Development”, and also other related documents. “They have made life easier for entrepreneurs of all forms,” the deputy chairman of the council said. Sergei Novitsky named a significant reduction in the requirements for starting a business and also simplified fire, sanitary and environmental standards among the most significant innovations for business development. This enables a businessman to open a cafe in a matter of days today. It could take at least 7-9 months before.

According to the deputy chairman of the council, the main thing, however, is that the government’s approach to business mistakes has changed from a punitive to a preventive one.

At the same time, Sergei Novitsky noted that the comfortable state of the economy is observed when small and medium-sized enterprises occupy 50% of the business. Today their share in Belarus is about 28%. “According to the SMEs promotion plan, their share should reach 40% by 2020. I think if we reach 50% within some 10-15 years, it will be a great result,” he added.