DUSHANBE, July 20, Asia-Plus — Labor migrants have remitted US$268 to Tajik banks over the first six months of this year, which is 62 percent more compared to the same period of 2005, Murodali Alimardonov, Chairman of the National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT), announced at a briefing in Dushanbe on July 19.
“By results of public opinion poll, which we conduct twice a year, some 98 percent of remitees are satisfied with a level of services in the country’s banks,” said Tajik central bank head, “Remittances are exempted from taxes and they may be received in any currency.”
On the development of banking system in Tajikistan, Mr. Alimardonov noted that they this year have introduced a system of providing loans to labor migrants for paying travel expenses and staying in the country of destination. “An annual interest rate on these loans fluctuates from 20% to 24%,” said the NBT head, “Besides, we have introduced a system of providing loans for running agricultural business, and as of July 1, 1.448 billion Somonis have provided in loans for these purposes; of them, 225.4 million Somonis have been provided in a form of small loans.”
Mr. Alimardonov also noted that a volume of deposits of the population in Tajik banks has increased by 28.5 percent of 153.7 million since the beginning of this year and amounted to more than 625 million Somonis. Number of people using services offered by the country’s banking system increased from 752,000 people in 2004 to 1,039,000 people in 2005, according to him.
