In Kyrgyzstan, Price Of Bread Shoots Up

Women haul bread near a street market in Osh, in southern Kyrgyzstan. (file photo)

BISHKEK -- The price of bread has increased by some 8-10 percent in Kyrgyzstan in a single day, dealing a blow to households in one of post-Soviet Central Asia's poorest republics, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports.

Akbar Atakeev, chairman of the Kyrgyz Bakers' Union, told a session of Kyrgyzstan's Antimonopoly Committee on February 22 that a decision by the country's bakers to raise bread prices was due to an increase in the price of flour.

He said a kilogram of flour costs 27-28 soms ($0.5-$0.6), reducing bakers' profits per loaf from that amount of flour to $0.003.

Antimonopoly Committee Chairman Babyrbek Jeenbekov said the recommended government price for flour is 22-23 soms ($0.44-$0.48) per kilogram. But RFE/RL reports that one kilogram of premium-quality flour currently costs 28-30 soms ($0.60-$0.68).

Read more in Kyrgyz here