14 April 2004 13:52
Russian agriculture minister vows to keep bread prices low
[Presenter] Russian Agriculture Minister Aleksey Gordeyev was speaking in the Duma today. He said he would not allow
bread prices to grow faster than the inflation rate.
[Gordeyev] Our task is to make sure that the price of bread, as the most socially significant product, does not grow
faster than the inflation rate set in the budget. We are influencing these processes indirectly, by taking our state
reserves to the market. For instance, in the last three weeks grain prices have gone down by 10 per cent. Besides,
regional leaders have been recommended to use such methods as introducing two types of socially significant bread, a
white loaf and a rye bread loaf. This experiment has been carried out in several regions. The price of these two types
of bread will remain the same during the whole year.
[Presenter] However, the cheap, so-called socially significant, bread has become more expensive in Kemerovo Region.
The authorities have kept the prices until the very last moment but now the regional budget cannot afford it any longer.
[passage omitted: a correspondent's dispatch from Kemerovo Region with the details]
[Radio Mayak] |
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