DUSHANBE, February 22, 2015, Asia-Plus — The head of the National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT), Abdujabbor Shirinov, says Tajikistan is currently studying the possibility of using the Chinese national currency, the yuan (CNY), for trade settlement with China.
“Tajikistan’s law on the currency regulation and the currency control does not restrict exchange of foreign currencies in domestic market but the problem is that a wide exchange of the Tajik national currency, the somoni (TJS), for the yuan has not yet begun in Tajikistan’s currency market,” Tajik central bank head was quoted as saying by the NBT official website.
“Today, our entrepreneurs use dollars to purchase goods in China, but we are currently studying the possibility of changing this mechanism,” Shirinov was cited as saying.
According to him, one of the ways to change the mechanism for mutual settlement of accounts between the two countries is to expand ties with Chinese banks.
It is to be noted that China has become one of major trading partners of Tajikistan in recent years. According to Tajikistan’s official statistical data, a two-way trade between Tajikistan and China increased from 32 million U.S. dollars in 2003 to almost one billion U.S. dollars in 2013. Meanwhile, according to China’s official statistical data, a two-way trade between the two countries increased over the report period from 32 million U.S. dollars to more than 2 billion U.S. dollars.
