Tajik authorities try to curb prices for essential food product.

DUSHANBE (Itar-Tass) - Tajikistan's authorities try to
curb growing prices for essential food products through partial use of
state reserves, the deputy head of the national agency for material
reserves, Sokhibdzhon Ziedulloyev, told local media on Wednesday.
This weekend nation-wide fairs will be organized to sell flour, rice,
sugar and other products.
"The prices for them will be lower by 10-15 percent as a minimum," he
said expressing the hope that "these measures will yield effective
results."
He declined to comment on the size of strategic reserves noting that
this information is "secret."
The Asia-Plus independent news agency reported on Wednesday according
to the Economic Development and Trade Ministry beginning from last year
prices for domestic flour increased by 80 percent and for imported flour -
by 76 percent. The prices for rice and sugar grew by 25 percent on the
average.
For Tajikistan, where according to the UNDP, half of the 7.5-million
population lives below the poverty line, bread is the main product.
Last year Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon called on the population to
make a two-year reserve of essential products promising citizens to
resolve the problem of food security within several years to come.