By government’s regulation a state-run enterprise supplying basic food products to Dushanbe is exempted from paying the value added tax (VAT).
Only basic food products being delivered to the Tajik capital by the State Unitary Enterprise (SUE) on Production, Purchase, Reservation and Sale of Essential Products in Dushanbe are exempted from payment of VAT.
The regulation that was signed by the government last month, in particular, orders to approve the list of basic food products exempted from payment of VAT.
Thus, import of 50,000 tons of sugar, 10,000 tons of vegetable oil, 70,000 tons of wheat, 10,000 tons of wheat flour and 2,000 tons of rice is exempted from payment of VAT.
The bulk of Tajikistan’s wheat and flour imports is provided by Kazakhstan, sugar is imported from Belarus and Russia, rice is imported from China, and vegetable oil is imported from Middle East and Southeast Asian countries.
Recall, the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) has made a decision to put ban on exporting a number of essential food staples, including flour, cereals, millet, buckwheat, rice and some others.
This measure has reportedly been taken so that EAEU member nations could provide their population with those essential food staples in the case of aggravation of the situation with coronavirus (COVID-19). Export of these food products is banned until June 30, 2020.
Some experts consider that EAEU’ decision to put ban on exporting some basic food products will have a tangible impact on Tajikistan’s food security as the EAEU nationals provide the bulk of Tajikistan’s food imports.
Current members of the Eurasian Economic Union are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia.
One of the serious problems will be the provision of the population with cereals, millet, buckwheat and wheat because all these products are delivered to Tajikistan
