KULOB, February 11, 2010, Asia-Plus — Only little more than 80 percent of a government credit provided to cotton farmers in Khatlon’s Kulob zone in 2008 has been repaid so far, Abdukarim Nematov, head of the branch of the National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT) in Kulob, said.
“In 2008, the government gave a 27,482,288 somoni credit to 657 cotton producing farms in the Kulob zone through a number of banks and only 80.35 percent of that has been repaid to this day.” Nematov said, noting that only Amonatbonk (Tajikistan’s savings bank) has managed to pay off the government credit.
According to him, other banks operating have to repay another 5,400,278 somoni on the 2008 government credit.
In the meantime, Kulob cotton farmers have repaid 51.91 percent of the credit the government gave them last year. “In 2009, the government gave a 24,074,687 somoni credit to local farms for the cotton-harvesting campaign and 51.9 percent of that has been repaid so far,” Nematov said.
