Business news

MINSK, 9 April (BelTA) – Economic competition in Belarus will be measured using methods of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) for the first time ever, BelTA learned from Olga Shcherbina, head of the IFC representative office in Belarus, on 9 April.

In line with previous agreements the International Finance Corporation will help the Belarusian Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade Ministry work out a competition encouragement program. A large volume of analytical information will be collected to make sure the program will be an effective instrument instead of a formal document. In particular, Belarusian laws on competition and their enforcement will be studied.

Besides, information about the index of regulation of commodity markets will be collected initially. “This index determines the level of competition in the economy as a whole and in individual branches in line with OECD methods,” said Olga Shcherbina.

It is the first time Belarus intends to do this work in 2018. This index is calculated once in five years and is measured on a scale from zero to six. Zero stands for the maximum level of competition, in other words, for the minimum number of barriers that impede competition.

The International Finance Corporation has already started studying six pilot sectors, which, the corporation believes, are interesting from the point of view of the competition situation. The number includes passenger transportation by air, freight transportation by rail, electric communications, and power engineering. “We intend to finish this work within 2-3 months. We and the Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade Ministry will make a joint statement about the results,” said Olga Shcherbina.