As of July 1, 2021, Tajikistan’s international reserves have amounted to 7½ months of import cover, the First Deputy Head of the National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT), Jamoliddin Nouraliyev, told reporters in Dushanbe on July 22.
According to him, foreign currencies have accounted for 92 percent of the country’s international reserves and gold has accounted for 5.0 percent.
International reserves are funds central banks exchange with each other on an international level. The reserves can either be in gold or in an internationally-accepted commodity, like the dollar or the euro.
Nouraliyev did not report the total cost of the country’s international reserves in monetary valuation and did not mention the volumes of purchases and sales of gold over the first six months of this year.
However, taking into account that an average monthly volume of Tajikistan’s imports last year amounted to US$262 million, we can assume that the country’s gold-and-currency reserves have amounted to 1.965 billion U.S. dollars as of July 1, 2021.
It is possible that reserves decreased due to the sale of gold abroad. According to official statistical data, precious and semi-precious metals and stones have accounted for more than 68 percent of the country’s exports over the first five months of this year.
It is to be noted that by the end of the last year, Tajikistan’s international reserves had reached 8½ months of import cover.
Countries hold foreign-exchange reserves partly to protect themselves against external crises. One common rule of thumb is that reserves that can cover three months' worth of imports are adequate.
