Not unexpectedly, on 20 January, certain food products in Karabakh will only be available via a rationing coupon or voucher system. This had already been announced by defacto State Minister Ruben Vardanyan on 8 January before it was then announced yesterday that it would start operating on 20 January. This is something anyway anticipated when stocks in shops started to increasingly disappear or sell out quickly.
Some residents had already been quoted by media calling for such a system as the effective siege of Karabakh on the Lachin Corridor enters its second month. The coupons will be distributed on 17 January.
According to reports, those items rationed will includes rice, pasta, buckwheat, sugar and vegetable oil which are reportedly from the state reserves. Vardanyan had also already warned businesses that price increases of more than 15 percent would be deprived of supply. A system of ‘service points’ will be set up in public schools and at the main university in Stepanakert while in the regions in district administrative buildings and community halls.
This post will be updated when more information is available.
