MOSCOW, January 5. /TASS/. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Wednesday tasked the authorities with introducing state regulation of prices for liquefied gas, gasoline and diesel for 180 days, his press service said after a governmental session.
In accordance with the decree, the country’s anti-monopoly authority is tasked with "introducing temporary price regulation for liquefied gas for 180 calendar days." "In regions, maximum prices for the population must not exceed the prices registered late last year," the presidential press service quoted Tokayev as saying.
"Apart from liquefied gas, state regulation of prices for gasoline and diesel fuel should also be in place for the period of 180 days," the presidential administration said.
Besides, the president tasked relevant governmental agencies with investigating a possible price collusion in the liquefied gas sector, his press service said.
"I instruct the Prosecutor General’s Office, jointly with the Agency for the Protection and Development of Competition, to carry out an investigation into possible price collusion and other anti-competitive actions [in the area of liquefied gas sales]," the Kazakh leader was quoted as saying by his press service
He also tasked the government with postponing by one year full transition to liquefied gas sales via electronic trade platforms and commodity exchanges.
"During this period, regulations and laws must be thoroughly prepared, transparency in the work of trade platforms must be ensured, mechanisms of limiting price hikes must be created," Tokayev said.
He also said that the country’s gas sector needs a "comprehensive reboot."
"It should be understood that no one will sell at a loss all the time. The country may lose investment to its gas and gas processing industries, and, correspondingly, it will have no gas at all. That is why systematic, but well-thought-out and gradual reforms are necessary. We need to carry out a comprehensive reboot of the gas industry, and make sure that there is enough gas on the domestic market," the presidential press service quoted the Kazakh leader as saying.
On January 2, crowds took to the streets in the cities of Zhanaozen and Aktau in the Mangistau region, protesting against high fuel prices. According to them, the price per liter of liquefied gas increased to 120 tenge ($0.27) since January 1, so the demonstrators demanded to halve it, to 50-60 tenge ($0.11 - $0.13). The president commissioned the government to assess urgently the situation in the region, taking into account economic feasibility and legal issues. The government commission arrived in Aktau and commenced work. On Tuesday, after the talks with protesters the commission announced the price of liquefied gas would be brought down to 50 tenge in the Mangistau region.
The president imposed a two-week state of emergency and a curfew in the country’s largest city of Almaty and the southwestern Mangistau Province early on Wednesday. The head of the state also accepted the government’s resignation. Its members will continue to perform their tasks until a new cabinet is formed.