Correspondents of “Chronicles of Turkmenistan” report that due to growing problems with flour and bread supply, residents form the provinces are fleeing the country.
An increasing number of abandoned privately-owned houses can be identified in Tazabazar etrap of Mary velayat, as well as in Bairamali, Ioleten, Turkmengal and Murgab etraps.
Some residents are leaving the country forever while others are departing overseas temporarily as they are unable to sell property and take the cash out of the country under the conditions of the economic crisis.
According to neighbors, problems with flour and bread provision have become the last straw.
In the meantime, instead of the first grade flour of 6 kilos per month, a restriction of 5 kilos of the first grade flour and a kilo of rye flour (the second grade in the best case scenario) has been imposed.
However, they are sold at the price of the first grade flour at 1 manats per kilo.
As a result of high unemployment rate, especially in rural areas, people cannot afford to buy even 6 kilos of flour allocated to them.
If you do not buy the ration ed flour on time, next month it will not be added to the next month’s quota.
Local and imported flour is available at bazaars. A sack of premium quality Turkmen flour is sold at 220 manats whereas Kazakhstan flour costs 300 manats.
Flour is supplied to state-run store in insufficient quantity. For this reason residents need to reserve a place in the queue.
Queues of 200 and more people form in front of the shops selling bread starting from 6 a.m.By 8 a.m.when the shops open, there might be turmoil in the queue.
People realize that there might be not enough bread for everybody even with bread rationing of 2 loaves per person.Fights in the queues are common.Unlike large cities, no police squadrons are deployed to keep vigil and impose order at the state-run shops.
— Even good neighbours, who argue in the queue for bread, become enemies.People cannot get together and demand that the authorities address the problem of flour and bread deficit and prefer to leave the country in search of jobs, a Ioleten resident said.
According to him, over the past month eight families his neighbors, friends and family members departed to Russia, Turkey and even Cyprus.
It is difficult to leave the country but rural inhabitants use their last savings, borrow money from neighbours and acquaintances. Some residents receive small money transfers from family members who reside overseas.