BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb. 17
Trend:
The share of retail trade of Kazakhstan’s Almaty in the country’s total retail trade is 31.5 percent, Trend reports via the country's Ministry of Trade and Integration.
Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Trade and Integration Bakhyt Sultanov held a meeting in the Almaty administration on issues of trade, consumer prices for especially important food products and compensation for losses in trade incurred during the period of riots.
At present, Almaty is the largest commercial and cultural center of Kazakhstan. About one third of enterprises registered in the country account for the city.
According to Sultanov, trade is the main sector of the city’s economy. In 2021, the retail trade exceeded 4.2 trillion billion tenge ($9.8 billion), thus having grown by 13.5 percent.
He also noted that the January riots have negatively impacted the work of some business entities, especially in the trade sector. To date, the government commission has approved a mechanism for compensation of damage to the affected businessmen, in which a number of amendments were proposed to be made.
The Regional Commission of Almaty proposed to amend the existing mechanism.
According to Almaty Mayor Yerbolat Dosayev, it was proposed to compensate the damage according to a simplified calculation with payments of up to 10 million tenge ($23,000) for all categories of damage, as well as to apply a simplified mechanism for the "equipment" category and compensate lawyers' fees.
"This will reduce the period for consideration of applications from one month to two weeks and significantly speed up the procedure for compensating for damage to business," Dosayev said.
The issue of stabilizing prices for socially important food products was also discussed. To stabilize prices for socially significant food products, within the framework of "revolving" loans, 11 billion tenge ($26,000) was allocated from the local budget to fix prices for vegetables, meat products, eggs and groceries. The allocation of loans to large producers of social bread [a variety of bread sold at a fixed lower cost], dairy products and sunflower oil is also being worked out.
Besides, the city administration reported to the deputy prime minister Sultanov, that it considers the possibility of creating mini-hubs by allocating concessional financing and land plots within the city for the construction of easily erectable temporary storage warehouses.
The mini-hubs will allow reduce the dependence of convenience stores on resellers, relieve owners of small retail outlets from the need to purchase on their own in large wholesale markets. In general, this should have a positive impact on the price level in small intra-quarter shops.
Following the meeting, Sultanov instructed the Almaty administration and the Trade Committee of the Ministry of Technology of Kazakhstan to continue monitoring and analyzing prices, take measures to increase the "turnover scheme" as part of the stabilization of prices for socially significant food products.
He also instructed to intensify the activities of regional commissions to investigate intermediary schemes along the entire food pricing chain, as well as continue work to provide assistance and compensation to the business entities which were subject to damage during the January riots.
Kazakhstan's government announced late Jan. 4 that it was restoring some price caps on liquefied petroleum gas after the rare protests reached Almaty following a sharp rise in the price of the fuel at the start of the year.
Many Kazakhs have converted their cars to run on LPG, which is far cheaper than gasoline as a vehicle fuel in Kazakhstan because of price caps. But the government argued that the low price was unsustainable and lifted the caps on Jan. 1.
After the price of the fuel spiked, big demonstrations erupted on Jan. 2 in certain parts of the country. Public protests are illegal in the country unless their organizers file a notice in advance.
Following the development of the situation, the government declared a state of emergency all over the country. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said the government initiated anti-terrorist operations to deal with the ongoing riots.
Also, the divisions of the united peacekeeping contingent of CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization) arrived in Kazakhstan to assist in restoring order and help protect strategic objects of the country.