DUSHANBE, December 5, 2014, Asia-Plus — This year, remittance flows from Russia to Tajikistan have declined by almost 6 percent, the head of the National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT), Abdujabbor Shirinov, announced during the presentation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s
Regional Economic Outlook
in Dushanbe on December 4.
Tajik central bank head attributes decline in remittance flows to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and sanctions imposed by the Western countries on Russia, which is the main destination country for Tajik migrant workers.
Labor migrants still remain a critical component in the economy of Tajikistan. Tajik government, however, stopped publishing information on the volume of remittances sent to Tajikistan because “this issue may be politicized.”
Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Russia reports that 1.555 billion U.S. dollars have been sent through money transfer system from Russia to Tajikistan in January-June this year, which was almost 5 percent fewer than in the same period last year. 646 million U.S. dollars were reportedly sent in the first quarter and 909 million U.S. dollars were sent in the second quarter.
On the depreciation of the Tajik national currency, the somoni, against the dollar, Shirinov noted on December 4 that similar trend could be observed in most countries of the region.
The value of the somoni (TJS) has continued to depreciate against the U.S. dollar, registering an average market purchase rate of the dollar against the somoni 1:5.42 on December 5, up from 1:5.305 on December 1.
