Over the past two months cigarettes have not been available in Ashgabat state-run stores.Cheap brands such as Modern, Extra and Bon at the price of 30 manats per pack have been previously sold there.
Correspondents of “Chronicles of Turkmenistan” report that these cigarettes are now being sold in privately-owned retail outlets at the price of 100 manats per pack or at 5 manats per piece.
According to sources of “Chronicles of Turkmenistan”, cigarettes are supplied to the stores through Red Crescent Society, which is headed by the President’s sister. The warehouses are so overstocked that hundreds of boxes of cigarettes, including the aforementioned brands, are being stored outside under the sheds.
Let us recall that cigarettes again disappeared from the counters of state-run stores in June 2020. Back then a pack of cigarettes fluctuated between 40 and 200 manats in privately-owned retail outlets.
Irregular supply of cigarettes to state-run stores was previously recorded in late April 2020. At that time cash-free payments for tobacco products were introduced with a restriction of no more than 2 packs per customer.