DUSHANBE, February 17, 2011, Asia-Plus — Stability in Tajikistan directly depends on economic stability in the Russian Federation, Tajik political scientist Doustmuhammad Doust said.
According to him, if Russian authorities do not tighten its migration legislation and do not restrict activities of Tajik labor migrants working in Russia, which is the main destination country for Tajik labor migrants, no food riots or shocks will hit Tajikistan.
“Economic and social stability in Tajikistan depends to a large extent on labor migrants who remit money to banks in the country for their families,” the political scientist noted.
He added that it was impossible to predict today that rising food prices would seriously impact stability in the country and lead to increase in the number of the poor in Tajikistan.
Mr. Doust believes that prices at the country’s bazaars depend on illicit dealers rather than on the world market trends. “Illicit dealers artificially raise food product prices,” said he, “Current prices at Tajikistan’s markets are so high that you do not see such prices even in the advanced countries.”
Labor migrants are the critical component in the economy of Tajikistan. Experts say remittances keep many families in the country above the poverty line and help to alleviate the stress caused by a lack of domestic job opportunities.
According to official figures, an estimated 600,000 Tajik seasonal workers travel abroad each year, primarily to Russia. Meanwhile, Russia’s Federal Migration Service (FMS) reports that more than 1 million Tajik labor migrants are working in the Russian Federation.
The National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT) says labor migrants have remitted 2.1 billion U.S. dollars to banks in Tajikistan over the first eleven months of 2010.
