The growth of prices in Transnistria is the result of the inflation, imported from abroad, as the inflation is increasing because there are no internal producers, the Ministry of Economy and Trade of the unrecognized Transnistrian Moldovan Republic considers.

While making reports in the frame of the information hour in the Transnistrian Supreme Council on Wednesday, Minister Elena Chernenko complained that local commodity producers cannot compete with imported goods.

She considers that the 20% import duty is not big money and the opening of the Transnistrian market for Moldovan producers aggravates the situation even more.

In the minister’s words, the inflation in January-February constituted 7.7% instead of the planned 4%, the growth of prices outstripped the growth of salaries in the budget sphere, but the state has no sources for the increase of salaries for the time being”.

“For the two last months the price for meat increased by 11%, for milk - by 10%, for flour and bread products - by 9%. The import component, which stimulated the price increase, reaches 70%”, Chernenko said.

Acting Chairman of the Transnistria Central Bank Aleksei Melnik reassured the Parliamentarians that the monetary factors have virtually no influence on the inflation.

“We have the inflation, which is imported from abroad and it is increasing because there are no internal foodstuff producers. We have virtually no our own production, our own agrarian sector. If we follow the inflation by increasing salaries constantly, in the future we shall receive an excessive emission and a double inflation”, he considers.

Minister of Finance Irina Molocanova remarked that the indexation of salaries with taking into consideration the real inflation level would have caused the increase of the budget deficit by 300 million rubles and this deficit already exceeds 627 million rubles (USD74 million).

The salary increase is impossible without additional sources. Today the Ministry of Finance is taking all the measures not for increasing salaries, but for paying them in time. Moreover, we had to take an advance in the amount of 67 million rubles (USD8 million) in the form of taxes, which were paid earlier”, she said.

Parliamentarians heard reports by responsible persons on the economic situation in the country in the connection with the inquiry by the trade unions, which are concerned with the growth of prices and rates. The Supreme Council and Transnistrian Leader Igor Smirnov demanded from responsible persons to submit within a month their proposals on the stabilization of inflation process. // Infotag



Publication date: 03 April 2008   

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