OREANDA-NEWS. On 09 July 2009 was announced, that Belarus’ retail turnover, including the public catering sector, went up 4.6% on the year in January-May to 20.883 trillion Belarusian rubles (Br), an official with the National Statistics Committee told. The increase in retail sales is projected at 17% in 2009.

Retail sales by trading companies rose 5% on the year in the period to 19.8 trillion rubles, while public catering companies’ sales edged down 2.1% on the year to 1.1 trillion rubles.

Of the total, trade organizations accounted for 73.1%, and individual entrepreneurs and newly formed unitary companies accounted for the remaining 26.9%.

The share of foods and non-foods in total retail trade turnover was at 50.6% and 49.4%, respectively, compared to 51.5% and 48.5% in January-May 2008.

Belarus-made consumer goods accounted for 78.3% of the retail trade turnover. Trade at markets was not accounted for. The share of Belarusian foodstuffs was at 86%, Belarusian non-foods at 66.7% in retail trade.

The share of private companies in the total retail turnover was at 81.6%, unchanged from January-April 2008, state companies 14.5%, down 0.6 of a percentage point year-on-year, while the share of foreign companies stood at 3.8%, up 0.5 of a percentage point.