The Antimonopoly Agency under the Government of Tajikistan says the rise in diesel fuel price in Tajikistan has resulted from the rising cost of diesel fuel in Russia and the appreciation of the exchange rate of the Russian ruble (RR).
“The rise in diesel fuel prices in the country has resulted from increasing demand for and the rising cost of diesel fuel at manufacturers' plants as well as increasing exchange rate of RR,” the deputy head of the Antimonopoly Agency, Safarali Qurbonzoda, told reporters in Dushanbe on July 13.
According to him, the price of one ton of diesel fuel in Russian has risen 58.9 percent in six months to June 30, 2022, reaching 890 U.S. dollars.
As of January 1, 2022, the price for one ton of diesel fuel in the Russian Federation was 560 U.S. dollars.
“We cannot comment on the reasons for the rise in diesel fuel prices in exporting countries,” Qurbonzoda added.
Meanwhile, some suppliers of petroleum products to Tajikistan attribute the rise in diesel fuel prices in the country to Russia’s military actions in Ukraine.
According to them, Russian armored carriers, military trucks and other ground military transport run on diesel fuel.
According to data from the Ministry of energy and Water Resources (MoEWR), Tajikistan has imported about 185,000 tons of diesel fuel over the first six months of this year.
Russia provides the bulk of Tajikistan’s diesel fuel imports, accounting for more than 95 percent of the overall volume of Tajikistan’s diesel fuel imports over the same six-month period – 175,000 tons,
Over the first six months of this year, diesel fuel prices have risen 8.4 percent in Tajikistan, while prices for gasoline and liquefied natural gas (LNG) have fallen 1.8 percent and 16.1 percent, respectively over the same six-month period.
Over the first week of this month alone, diesel prices in the country have risen on average 3.88 percent.
The price of one liter of diesel fuel in Dushanbe rose from 12.80 somonis on July 1 to 13.50 somonis on July 7 (5.2-increase).
In Khujand, the capital of Sughd province, and Bokhtar, the capital of Khatlon province, the price of one liter the price of diesel fuel rose slightly: from 13.40 somonis on July 1 to 13.50 somonis on July 7 (0.74-prcent increase).
In Khorog, the capital of the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Province Project (GBAO), the price of one liter of diesel fuel rose from 13.20 somonis on July 1 to 14.00 somonis on July 7 (5.7-percent increase).
Over the previous week (June 24 – July 1), diesel prices in the country have risen on average 7.0 percent.
