Belarusian Trade Ministry is unlikely to defeat regional protectionism without changing principles of listing taxes to local budgets

According to the presidential decree No 188 of June 3^rd, 2016, the Trade Ministry will be transformed into the Antitrust and Trade Ministry, which will be in charge of price regulation, consumer market control and regulation, ensuring equal conditions for all market participants. The ‘reform’ is likely reduce the time for administrative procedures when dealing with disputes between market participants, to simplify access to regional state trading enterprises for suppliers of all types of ownership, to enhance the state’s intervention in pricing. Regional protectionism arises from the principle of taxation at the place of the legal address of a supplier or a commercial enterprise, without changing this principle, the practice of administrative pressure on the market in order to replenish local budgets will remain inefficient.

Image: Дэвид Симонс, The Economist