DUSHANBE, October 7, 2008, Asia-Plus — According to the CIS Interstate Committee for Statistics, Tajikistan has topped CIS states in terms of inflation rate for the first eight months of this year.
In January-August 2008, the highest inflation rate has been reported in Tajikistan (30.7 percent) and the lowest inflation rate has been reported in Armenia (9.5 percent, the CIS Interstate Committee for Statistics said.
Over the same eight-month period, in Kazakhstan, inflation stood at 19.4 percent, in Kyrgyzstan – 26.9, Azerbaijan — 17.8 percent in Moldova – 14.7 percent, in Russia –14.1 percent, and Ukraine — 26.4 percent. The CIS Interstate Committee for Statistics does not have inflation rates for Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan in its report.
Over the report period, an average inflation rate within the Commonwealth of Independent States has been 17 percent.
In the meantime, according to figures provided by Tajikistan’s State Committee for Statistics, inflation for January-August 2008 has stood at 11.9 percent.
Speaking in an interview with Asia-Plus, known Tajik expert, Dr. Hojimuhammad Umarov said, ”Figures provided by the CIS Interstate Committee are more correct than the Tajik Statistics Committee data shows.”
According to him, if the country’s authorities do not take specific effective measures, inflation in the country may stand at 50 percent by the end of this year. The expert noted that an important move to curb inflation was encouragement of consumer goods producers through providing tax privileges and subsidizing farming units, etc.
