Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend corr U. Ismayilova / The Council on Tariffs of Azerbaijan should turn to a smooth and clear work system reflecting a definite strategy, politician Rasim Musabeyov, said on 23 May during the Democracy in Transit Society conference held in Baku. He was commenting on the decision of the Council to raise the prices for telephone calls from AZN 0.7 to AZN 2 in May.
According to the politician, the rise in prices should be followed by immediate improvement in telephone services, but that is not the case in Azerbaijan. He noted that the prices should be raised taking in consideration the social state of the population in order to enable a consumer to predict the changes in prices.
In January, 2007, the Council made the decision to increase the prices for public utilities and energy.
"Whilst the review of tariffs in the industrial sector should be considered, we must keep in mind that companies will now have to charge more for their products than they had originally forecasted," Mr. Musabeyov said.
He also noted that such sudden two- and threefold rises should not occur with the Council continuing to provide its services at the same quality level as prior to the price hike.