Kazakhstan cuts politically sensitive fuel price
* Sets ceiling of $0.55/litre
By Raushan Nurshayeva
ASTANA, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Oil-producing Kazakhstan will set a price ceiling on gasoline from next month, the government said on Thursday in a move aimed at easing growing discontent in the crisis-hit Central Asian nation.
Gasoline prices are politically sensitive in Kazakhstan, a flat country the size of western Europe where many people rely on cars as the main form of transport.
President Nursultan Nazarbayev, in power for two decades, is now worried growing prices for essential goods such as gasoline would galvanise opposition to his rule in a country already hit hard by the global economic downturn.
"From December 1, the retail (price should be) no more than 82 tenge ($0.55)," Prime Minister Karim Masimov told a government meeting in the capital Astana, referring to the price of one litre of gasoline with 92 octane rating.
The average price is 88 tenge per litre, Masimov said. The new ceiling price equals $2.1 per gallon.
Source:reuters.com
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