For Muslims across the world the holy month of Ramadan is a time to renew one’s devotion to the faith. For at least one of Tajikistan’s airlines, meanwhile, it is a chance to make a quick buck.
Fliers with privately owned Somon Air have noticed a gradual creeping up in fares in the prices in the last few months — a trend that is in line with an increase in living costs across the board.
But as news website TajInform.com has reported, the spike has been noticed particularly intensely in recent days. Critics of the airline accuse the company of unfairly exploiting high demand among Tajik migrants in Russia wishing to visit their families back home for the duration of the holy month, which started in late May.
If prices from Moscow to Dushanbe ticked up from March to April from around 6,600 rubles ($115) to around 8,000 rubles, the jump has been particularly pronounced this month. In June, travelers flying with Somon Air would be lucky to get anything for much under 14,000 rubles ($250). Russian airlines and the state-run Tajik Airlines offers rates that are marginally more competitive.
TajInform.com cited Somon Air as saying the price rise was a reflection of seasonal demand and that prices would settle back to lower levels after the summer is over. Cynics might suggest that the airline is seizing every opportunity it can to address its chronic cashflow troubles.
The situation for those traveling from Tajikistan to Russia is being further complicated by speculators bulk-buying tickets and then illegally selling them on at higher prices.
On a related theme, in his eagerness to be seen fighting against price rises for basic groceries, the mayor of Dushanbe, Rustam Emomli, who is also the president’s son, on June 1 fired the heads of two major bazaars in the city — Shohmansur and Dehkon.
Emomali had previously issued strict instructions for those running the markets not to allow prices to rise during Ramadan. Despite his forceful words, the cost of many staple goods have been going up all the same. Technically speaking, the directors of the bazaars, Saidmahmud Muminov and Ziyoviddin Nadzhmiddinov, resigned of their own volition, although that is only a formality.
In truth, this looks a lot like a public relations stunt, since bazaar managers are in little position to affect the prices of groceries. Dushanbe produces nothing on any scale, which means that all goods needs to be brought in from the regions. Emomali had insisted bazaars should source their wares directly without going through middlemen, but such policies are in practice utterly unrealistic and impractical.
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