Smokers compensate for part of the budget's spending on helping
the population and businesses
2. Rised cigarette prices will also help the neighboring state. Lukashenko openly says that the income from the sale of cigarettes adds half a billion dollars.Also, without the ability to buy expensive cigarettes, people will start buying illegal cigarettes. Every year, about 5 billion cigarettes are illegally delivered to Russia from Belarus.
Part of illegal cigarettes in Russia. (in 2020, the last week recorded an increase to 30%)
How this situation affects the buisness?
First of all, the budget of the Russian Federation goes down. I think that without bringing illegal products, Russians would have continued to buy the same cigarettes that they smoked.They are guided by habit and precise knowledge of which cigarettes are suitable for them and which are not. They may be angry or swear for a long time, but this will not change their habit. Instead of using the dependence on cigarettes of citizens like a pros, the government turned it into a loss for the budget of the Russian Federation