Nur-Sultan Authorities Want Businesses Not to Raise Prices on Some Products

As the city’s mayor’s office reported, all the businesses in the city were warned about the rule.

In order to guarantee that businesses clearly understand what the akimat (local administration) wants and why it requires businesses to obey this rule, Erzhan Baltayev, head of the department for investments and entrepreneurship development of the city of Nur-Sultan met with local small and middle-sized businesses. They’ve discussed a wide range of issues concerning socially significant products.

According to Kazakhstan’s legislation on trade, the retail margin on socially significant goods can’t be higher than 15% and must be written in contracts between market players.

«If a violation of the maximum retail margin of 15% established for socially significant products is proved, then that business will get a written notice. If it fails to improve the situation it would face a penalty of $68.48 for small businesses; penalties for middle-sized companies and large businesses would pay $513.62 and $2054.5 respectively,» the akimat said in a statement.

Ministry of Trade and Integration is an officially authorized body in Kazakhstan responsible for interagency coordination in terms of the pricing of socially significant products.

Currently, this type of product in Kazakhstan includes 19 items: flour, bread, macaroni, eggs, buckwheat, rice, sugar, vegetable oil, butter, meat (beef and chicken), dairy (milk, kefir, farmer cheese), vegetables (potato, carrot, cabbage), and salt, according to the akimat’s press service.