Duma deputy Elena Panina won’t let the government forget that prices can be regulated not only by the market.
Photo: Dmitry Lebedev
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Duma Mulls over State Price Regulation
The Russian State Duma is drafting a bill which may potentially regulate consumer prices, the parliament’s economic policy committee said Thursday. Economic Development Minister German Gref has lambasted the idea, but parliament majority still hopes to put the bill to vote this year.
Elena Panina, a drafter of the bill, says that the document does not lay down consumer price regulations but only describes such possibility.
Federal authorities regulates prices in state monopolized industries such as gas, electricity, railroads, tariffs in ports and airports, communications and utilities. Drafters say that the new legislation will streamline this regulation. The new pricing policy will be fighting “local monopolism” as the drafters put it, referring to prices for services and consumer goods.
The government would not even hear about state price regulation. “Any direct regulation of prices will cause a deficit of goods,” Economic Development Minister German Gref said, confirming that he would oppose the bill by all means.
Duma deputies brush away these accusations, citing examples of other counties with 10 to 40 percent prices being regulated. “We are offering no more than 20 percent,” Elena Panina underscored.
The government has so far been successful in resisting any efforts to regulate prices. In 2004, Agriculture Minister Alexey Gordeev suggested battling rising grain prices by price regulations. On another note, metal producers were lobbying curbs on domestic metal tariffs.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of May 18, 2007
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