DUSHANBE, June 16, 2009, Asia-Plus — Mr. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), is arriving in Dushanbe today morning.
According to the IMF Dushanbe Office, Mr. Strauss-Kahn is visiting the Chorteppa jamoat in the Roudaki district today to meet with local authorities and population. A special attention will be given to labor migrants that have returned home following economic and financial crisis, the source said.
Wednesday morning, the IMF managing director will hold talks with President Emomali Rahmon to discuss the economic crisis related assistance issues.
As it had been reported earlier, Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s visit to Tajikistan is part of his tour of four Central Asia’s states. The tour started on June 15 and Kazakhstan was the first leg of the IMF managing director’s tour of Central Asia. In Kazakhstan, Mr. Strauss-Kahn met with the country’s authorities and delivered a speech at the Government Academy. The global financial crisis and its impact on Central Asia were the subject of the speech.
On June 17, Mr. Strauss-Kahn will visit Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan and on June 18, he will visit Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
During the tour, Mr. Strauss-Kahn is meeting with the authorities of the four Central Asia countries, as well as with parliamentarians, representatives of civil society, and academia. Mr. Strauss-Kahn will focus on how best the international community, including the Fund, can assist these countries in their response to the financial crisis.
We will recall that the IMF Executive Board on April 21, 2009 approved a three-year, about US$116 million arrangement under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) for Tajikistan to support the authorities” economic program. The decision enables Tajikistan to draw the equivalent of about US$38.7 million from the IMF immediately.
The Executive Board also completed the final review under the Staff-Monitored Program (SMP) and the 2009 Article IV consultation with Tajikistan.
Tajik authorities’ program aims to maintain financial and macroeconomic stability, while alleviating the economic impact of the crisis by adopting a flexible exchange rate regime, raising social and poverty-related expenditures, and laying the foundation for future growth. Resolute implementation of the program should lower the external current account deficit to a more sustainable level and restore growth rates.
