But in 2009 attempts predictably missed their mark as producers hoarded stocks and the black-market price soared.

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Remarkably, this may actually ease price pressures, because rationing, which had pushed the old black-market price up to 330 kyat a gallon, has been relaxed.

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Prosecutors say the smugglers had ties "with upper echelon Hezbollah officials" and often charged customers a "resistance tax, " in effect, a terrorist fee levied on top of the black-market price.

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The price of black-market whisky has risen by a similar margin.

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Under Abacha, pumps ran dry and the president's friends made fortunes cornering supplies at the low official price and selling them at the much higher black-market rate.

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