On November 10, during a meeting of the Jogorku Kenesh Committee on Finance, Budget, Entrepreneurship, and Competition Development, MP Aisara Abdibaeva proposed to abolish service charges in cafes and restaurants. In her view, catering establishments should independently ensure payments to their employees rather than passing these expenses on to customers.
"Society is against service charges. Establishments should pay their waiters, not citizens. There is a lot of such dissatisfaction."
Price increases and cost justification
During the discussion, the issue of the sharp increase in food prices was also addressed. The MP drew attention to the significant rise in menu prices, questioning the legality of such increases.
average salad price500 som1 000 som +100%
Deputy Minister of Economy and Commerce of the Kyrgyz Republic Benazir Nurlanova explained that the service cost is already included in the dish prices so that visitors know the final amount in advance. In turn, Aybek Mamyraliyev, Chairman of the Antimonopoly Regulation Service under the Ministry of Economy and Commerce of the Kyrgyz Republic, noted that pricing depends on food costs, rent, payback periods, and other payments.
Context
The discussion took place within the framework of the parliamentary profile committee reviewing issues of finance and competition development.
