Viktar Harbachou: Market vendors unlikely to receive law on small and medium business in 2009

• 8.01.2009, 9:20

Law on small and medium business won’t be adopted this year, stated the chairman of the organizing committee for foundation of the public association “For free development of enterprise” Viktar Harbachou.

He reminded that the graft law had been prepared by organisations of entrepreneurs. Adoption of the law was one of the demands of the individual entrepreneurs during their protest rallies. A draft law created by officials exists as well.

“The year 2009 will be instable, and at such times it is easier for the government to manage not by laws, but by decrees, orders and enactments. They can be changed within a day, an hour, so existence of a law would simply deteriorate the situation for the authorities,” Harbachou said in an interview to BelaPAN.

As said by him, if there were no crisis, “the law would be adopted without fail”.

In general, as forecasted by Harbachou, 2009 is to be “an extremely difficult year” for private entrepreneurs.

“Adoption of the Decree No. 703 which increases single tax rates for private entrepreneurs, plus pining all taxes and rent to Euro exchange rate which is growing, are to cause the situation when businessmen would massively move their business into the shadow sector or to leave to the neighbouring countries. And many are simply to go out of business,” Harbachou said.

This year, he underlined, is “to become a year of survival: the weak businessmen are to leave the strong are to stay, and the middle will try to catch hold of what is available”.

“But by the year 2010 there would be fewer private enterprises undoubtedly. However, everything should be just the opposite in any country during the crisis: the government must help entrepreneurs to develop and create new jobs,” V. Harbachou is convinced.