Fuel Price Up in Tajikistan

Text of report by Tajik newspaper Nigoh on 7 August

Since late last week, the price of fuel products has increased in the regions of the country [Tajikistan]. The price of one litre of petrol stood at 3.7-3.8 somoni [one somoni is about 3.4 somoni] and that of diesel oil was 3.8-3.9 somoni in some regions.

According to information from the [Tajik] Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, the cause of the increase in the price of fuel is a rise in its price in the world market. A spokesman for the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, Mr Ghafurjon Iskodari, told a Nigoh correspondent that: “It is impossible to maintain the price in the country because a small amount of fuel products is produced in Tajikistan and the country’s demand is mainly satisfied with imported fuel.”

Last week fuel exporting countries increased the price of their product by several per cent. Furthermore, its transport costs also grew and as a consumer of the [fuel] product exported by Russia, Kazakhstan and Iran, Tajikistan cannot prevent an increase in its price, he added.

However, minibus drivers in the [Tajik] capital think that the real cause of the increase in the price of this product is another “initiative” of local traders. Whereas, since the beginning of the week, the price of oil has decreased by about 10 per cent, to 119- 122 dollars per barrel, in all commodity exchanges of the world.

Originally published by Nigoh, Dushanbe, in Tajik 7 Aug 08, p 3.

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