Liquefied gas prices are expected to rise in Tajikistan by the end of the year.

Kazakhstan, which provides the bulk of Tajikistan’s liquefied gas imports, has reportedly doubled liquefied gas wholesale prices.

However, Tajik entrepreneurs engaged in delivering Kazakh liquefied gas to Tajikistan are not going to give up liquefied gas imports from Kazakhstan.

Recall that the July 26 decision Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Energy to increase maximum allowed domestic wholesale prices for liquefied gas from 11,034 tenge per ton to 23,106 tenge per ton (343.88 tenge = U.S.$1.00) has led to a 16-percent rise in liquefied gas prices in Dushanbe.

The price of one liter of liquefied gas in Dushanbe rose risen from 2.80 somoni on July 1 to 3.20 somoni in August 1, with similar prices rises in other regions of the country.

Meanwhile, Tajikistan has imported more than 163,300 of liquefied gas over the first six months of this year and Kazakhstan has accounted for nearly 70 percent of Tajikistan’s liquefied gas imports.

Over the same six-month period, Tajikistan has also imported liquefied gas from Russia and Turkmenistan.

Tajikistan receives deliveries of liquefied gas by road and rail.  More than 60 percent of the country's motor vehicles use liquefied gas as fuel.