DUSHANBE, July 2, 2011, Asia-Plus — An initiative of Tajikistan’s Antimonopoly Agency on setting the rate of retail markup for separate socially significant goods is aimed against unfounded rise in prices of these goods, Akbar Khojayev, head of the Antimonopoly Agency competition department, announced at a roundtable formally titled “Assessment of the Consequences of the State Price Regulation in Tajikistan” that took place in Dushanbe on July 1.
Organized by the public association, Tajikistan Free Market Center, under financial support of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation (Germany) in partnership with the Atlas Economic Research Foundation (United States), the meeting brought together representatives from government institutions, heads of business associations, specialists from international organizations, independent experts and journalists to discuss the state price regulation problems and possible consequences of the state price regulation for entrepreneurs and the population.
“Of course, Tajikistan adheres to free market policies and formation of prices is free, except several spheres of government monopoly (energy, transportation and communications),” said Khojayev, “However, free formation of prices does not mean that anarchy should reign in market.”
According to him, current pricing situation in the country’s consumer market is very complicated. “The government has to interfere in order to stabilize the situation. In case of necessity, such a practice has been used in many countries of the world.”
Henceforth, retail dealers, buying essential goods wholesale, will not be able to set markup as they want, Khojayev said.
In the meantime, Nekroy Zabirov, head of the Union of Entrepreneurs of Tajikistan, noted that under conditions of market economy, “no one government institution has the right to set certain prices.” He is sure that setting retail markup for goods will affect the wholesale supply of goods and will inevitably lead to deficiency in goods.
The Antimonopoly Agency has worked out a draft regulation on the procedure of formation and use of free prices for goods and services. The Antimonopoly Agency specialists say the initiative is aimed at ensuring reasonable formation of consumer prices. This document provides for setting the rate of retail markup for separate socially significant goods. The list of such goods is not so large and includes meat, sugar, oil and fuels.
According to the National Bank of Tajikistan, consumer prices rose 14.4 percent in a year to April 30, 2011 and inflation for the first four months of this year stood at 6.1 percent.
Food prices in Tajikistan have reportedly risen dramatically due to increase in fuel prices and the U.S. dollar”s rise against the local currency. According to official data, Tajikistan imports 60 percent of its food and all of its fuel and mineral fertilizers.
