Uzbek President holds meeting on ensuring stable food prices considered

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Tashkent — President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev has chaired a videoconference on measures to ensure food security and price stability in the domestic market.

The availability and sufficiency of food security are the main factors of social stability. To this end, over the past three years, 28 trillion UZS of loans have been allocated for the development of food industry, animal husbandry, horticulture and agriculture. In the livestock industry alone, projects worth 11 trillion soums have been implemented.

In addition, taking into account the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on price dynamics, imports of basic foodstuffs have been exempted from customs duties since April this year.

Despite this, the prices of meat, eggs, vegetable oil and sugar have risen sharply recently. If in the world market prices for vegetable oil over the past 9 months increased by an average of 15 percent, in Uzbekistan the growth amounted to 26 percent. In the world, sugar fell in price by 5 percent, in Uzbekistan it went up by 23 percent.

At the meeting, the issues of saturating the domestic market with food products and maintaining price stability were comprehensively discussed.

“If we will not take necessary measures today and change the current system, tomorrow – in winter and spring – the situation will become more complicated. People, especially low-income citizens, will be happy if we increase the supply of food and stabilize prices in the market”, said Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

It was emphasized that each khokim of the region, district and city must have accurate estimates of the needs of the population for meat, eggs, flour, oil, sugar, rice, potatoes, carrots and onions, sources of supply of these products for the period until May next year.

Food security funds will be established in each region. At the expense of the fund, regional leaders, with the involvement of entrepreneurs, will arrange the import of basic types of food from other regions or foreign countries to those regions where there is a shortage of products. Entrepreneurs participating in such supplies will receive compensation for interest on the loan from the Entrepreneurship Support Fund.

The need was noted for expanding the participation of large foreign manufacturers in local exchange trading in order to reduce the cost of imported food products.

The importance of securing the regions for each district of the city of Tashkent for organizing sale centers of agricultural products was noted.

It was emphasized that khokims of regions, districts, cities and sector leaders should report to the population on the food supply system created on their territory, conditions and prices in the market.

At the event, khokims of the regions reported on their plans for uninterrupted provision of the population with food products by months.