OREANDA-NEWS. March 26, 2012. Belarus’ Health Ministry is set to propose introducing a state monopoly on retail trade in alcohol beverages, the ministry’s chief drug therapist Sergey Osipchik told reporters on Wednesday.

Furthermore, the Health Ministry plans to initiate a ban on trading in alcohol beverages at nighttime, and selling alcohol to persons under 21 years of age. The ban will be introduced in 2015 at the earliest, the expert said.

The idea to restrict alcohol trade was prompted by the steep upward curve in alcohol consumption over the past few years.

Although alcohol is a not an essential supplement to the human diet, almost every food shop in Belarus trades in alcohol beverages.

A state monopoly on alcohol trade will hardly affect state budget revenues, as the state will have to spend less on medical care and law enforcement activities, the expert said.

Alcohol beverages and beer accounted for 10.3% of Belarus retail turnover in 2011, the National Statistics Committee said in a report. Alcohol sales in terms of pure alcohol totalled 10.492 million dal in 2011, up 8.8% on the year. Private traders account for 84.3% of the country’s retail trade in alcohol, state-owned companies - 11.7%.