Protesters Rise up Against Inflation
Protesters Rise up Against Inflation
The Uzbek government’s failure to curb rising inflation has brought people out onto the streets and NBCentralAsia analysts say further protests are likely.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports that residents of Oltiaryq district in Uzbekistan's Fergana Valley took to the streets on September 3 to protest against rising food prices.
Some 30 to 50 people marched from the village of Yangi-Arab to the regional government building for Fergana province. Officials came out to meet them and promised to take immediate action to bring prices down.
According to other media reports, demonstrations also took place in the large Fergana Valley cities of Andijan and Namangan. An NBCentralAsia analyst in Tashkent says that interior ministry troops were placed on high alert.
Since the beginning of August, the price of petrol has gone up by 16 per cent, and public transport fares have risen 25 per cent.
The price of flour, a staple item in Uzbekistan, has also gone up from 600 soms a kilogram (about half a dollar) to 1,000-1,200 soms by the end of the month.
NBCentralAsia experts say that the government is not making any real effort to control inflation, and civil unrest on a wider scale is only being kept at bay by the interior ministry’s police.
Last year, the International Monetary Fund warned Uzbekistan that in order to rein in galloping inflation, it must develop private business and the financial sector and allow companies more freedom to trade with other countries.
Dinara Dyikanova, an economist from Tashkent, says the government has largely ignored those recommendations.
“Uzbekistan did not do any of this [IMF recommendations], although it did make formal efforts to improve the investment climate”, she said.
The Fergana valley is the most densely populated region in Central Asia and one of the poorest areas in the world. Abdusalom Ergashev, a human rights activist from the region, believes that there are more protests to come.
People are being tipped over the edge by the lack of independent media, rising food prices and widespread corruption, he says.
“The country is in explosive right now. The government of [President] Islam Karimov has shown itself to be incompetent,” he said, “For many years now, stability has been maintained only by building up a huge state machine to suppress protest of any kind.”.
In May 2005, protesters in Andijan stormed a military garrison and a prison, seizing weapons and freeing prisoners following demonstrations against the trial of 23 businessmen accused of being Islamic extremists. The next day, May 13, government troops opened fire on a large crowd which had gathered in the city centre, killing hundreds.
(NBCentralAsia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region)
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports that residents of Oltiaryq district in Uzbekistan's Fergana Valley took to the streets on September 3 to protest against rising food prices.
Some 30 to 50 people marched from the village of Yangi-Arab to the regional government building for Fergana province. Officials came out to meet them and promised to take immediate action to bring prices down.
According to other media reports, demonstrations also took place in the large Fergana Valley cities of Andijan and Namangan. An NBCentralAsia analyst in Tashkent says that interior ministry troops were placed on high alert.
Since the beginning of August, the price of petrol has gone up by 16 per cent, and public transport fares have risen 25 per cent.
The price of flour, a staple item in Uzbekistan, has also gone up from 600 soms a kilogram (about half a dollar) to 1,000-1,200 soms by the end of the month.
NBCentralAsia experts say that the government is not making any real effort to control inflation, and civil unrest on a wider scale is only being kept at bay by the interior ministry’s police.
Last year, the International Monetary Fund warned Uzbekistan that in order to rein in galloping inflation, it must develop private business and the financial sector and allow companies more freedom to trade with other countries.
Dinara Dyikanova, an economist from Tashkent, says the government has largely ignored those recommendations.
“Uzbekistan did not do any of this [IMF recommendations], although it did make formal efforts to improve the investment climate”, she said.
The Fergana valley is the most densely populated region in Central Asia and one of the poorest areas in the world. Abdusalom Ergashev, a human rights activist from the region, believes that there are more protests to come.
People are being tipped over the edge by the lack of independent media, rising food prices and widespread corruption, he says.
“The country is in explosive right now. The government of [President] Islam Karimov has shown itself to be incompetent,” he said, “For many years now, stability has been maintained only by building up a huge state machine to suppress protest of any kind.”.
In May 2005, protesters in Andijan stormed a military garrison and a prison, seizing weapons and freeing prisoners following demonstrations against the trial of 23 businessmen accused of being Islamic extremists. The next day, May 13, government troops opened fire on a large crowd which had gathered in the city centre, killing hundreds.
(NBCentralAsia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region)
