YEREVAN, MARCH 4, NOYAN TAPAN. The checks conducted by the RA State Commission for Protection of Economic Competition showed that prices of not all the living essentials have changed since the return to a floating exchange rate. The Commission's chairman Ashot Shahnazarian announced at the March 4 press conference that there were 10-12% changes in prices of some goods. According to him, there was a rise in prices of 4 out of 40 goods subjected to monitoring: vegetable oil, some sorts of butter, granulated sugar (its price rose by 30 drams to 250 drams), "premier" gasoline (by 50 drams). It should be mentioned that granulated sugar was sold for 320 drams in some shops. The Commission's chairman advised citizens not to buy granulated sugar at such a high price but to go to a nearby shop and buy sugar for 250 drams. He said that after the March 3 statement of the chairman of the Central Bank of Armenia, there were attempts by some big importers to create an artificial deficit. However, a representative of the Commission held negotiations with them and warned them, as a result of which prices of some goods even fell during a few hours. A. Shahnazarian said that if prices of some goods continue rising, starting from tomorrow the Commission will pass from the stage of warnings to the stage of initiating procedures. He once again advised citizens not to panic. At the same time it was mentioned that it is likely that prices of imported goods will increase by 20-25% in 2-3 months after stored goods are used up.

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