Uzbekistan’s legislative chamber of parliament approved a law on exempting some imported food products from value-added tax (VAT) for more than two months to ensure consumer demand for staples during the coronavirus pandemic and prevent price gouging.

The law envisages the import and sale of a number of food products, including meat, potatoes, frozen fish, as well as live animals, to be exempted from VAT, Farhod Zayniev, a member of the parliament, wrote on social networks.

The proposed law was submitted to the country’s upper chamber of the parliament, the Senate, for consideration. The law comes into effect after the president’s approval.

According to the document, it is planned to exempt imports and sales turnover from VAT from October 10 to December 31 for meat products (beef, lamb, chicken), live animals (cattle and poultry) products of their slaughter, potatoes and frozen meat.

According to the State Statistics Committee, prices for meat and meat products have risen 13.3 percent since the beginning of the year.