DUSHANBE, January 26, Asia-Plus — The gold and foreign currency reserves held by Tajikistan”s central bank in 2006 remained unchanged from the previous years and stood at $180 million as of January 1, 2007, Murodali Alimardonov, chairman of the National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT), announced at a news conference in Dushanbe on January 25.
Murodali Alimardonov said that Tajikistan plans to increase its gold and foreign currency reserves this year to meet demand created by growing imports.
“Because imports are growing, we need to provide the market with foreign currency reserves,” he said, adding that at the same time the government is working to reduce imports as a way of backing domestic producers. The central bank head noted that the government is taking measures to reduce imports due to providing market with domestic goods.
He said the bank raised the refinancing rate from 11% to 13% through 2006 to control inflation. “But as of the first quarter of 2007, the bank plans to reduce the rate,” Alimardonov said.
According to him, inflation is expected to have been 7 percent this year, down from 12.5 percent in 2006. “But it is without taking into consideration external factors that can contribute to increase in the inflation rate,” said Alimardonov, “Last year, the inflation rate in Tajikistan was affected by world prices of oil and grain that rose by 50% and 26 % respectively.”
According to him, to provide further development of the country’s exports it is necessary to diversify export potentials, in particular to increase export of farm produce and finished industrial goods.
The central bank head highlighted that the somoni, the local currency introduced in 2000, has a flexible exchange rate, and noted that fluctuations in its value against the U.S. dollar did not exceed 7.1% during 2005. “We must not intervene to strengthen the dollar significantly against somoni, as the market has its own laws,” he said, adding that they expect fluctuations in somoni value against U.S. dollars to be 7%-8% this year.
