DUSHANBE, August 19, 2009, Asia-Plus — Even with the best will in the world Tajik authorities will not be able to curb price rises during the holy month of Ramadan, Bahodur Habibov, the head of the Union of Consumers of Tajikistan (UCT), said in an interview with Asia-Plus.
“The results of our last year’s survey to study reasons for the increase in prices of some basic food products during the Ramadan month have shown that the main reason for that is the increase in prices of goods imported into Tajikistan during this period,” said Habibov, “The country, in which imports constitute lion’s share of goods in retail trade, will scarcely be able to curb price rises.”
According to him, demands during this month invariably increase and foreign entrepreneurs use this period and there are local entrepreneurs in this chain. “Therefore, the matter is not of lack of outlet, sellers or goods, it is just an action of rigorous laws of market economy,” the UCT head said.
