  The effect of giant dielectric permittivity due to phase separation
accompanied by charged inhomogeneities in low-doped manganites is discussed.
The effect appears in the vicinity of the second-order magnetic phase
transition and is caused by long-range Coulomb forces. The long-range Coulomb
interaction is responsible for the formation of inhomogeneous charged states
and determines their characteristic length scales. We derive the phase diagram
of the inhomogeneous charged states in the framework of the phenomenological
theory of phase transitions. The large value of the static dielectric function
reduces the characteristic value of the Coulomb energy of the inhomogeneous
state and makes the appearance of the magnetoelectric effect possible. We
discuss the formation of a state with giant dielectric permittivity and
magneto-capacitance effects in that case.
