DUSHANBE, July 23, 2013, Asia-Plus — A crisis situation that has emerged in one of Tajikistan’s largest commercial banks, Agroinvestbonk, in recent years has been settled, Abdujabbor Shirinov, Abdujabbor Shirinov, the head of the National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT) announced at a news conference in Dushanbe on July 23.
“Measures taken by the government have helped restore financial indicators of this bank and its activities are now profitable,” Shirinov said.
According to him, the crisis situation in Agroinvestbonk has resulted from target lending that was imposed on the bank by the government.
“The crisis situation emerged in Agroinvestbonk when it began to provide loans to support enhancement of important sectors of the country’s economy such as cotton processing, poultry farming, gardening, livestock sector, etc,” said Shirinov. “Repayment of these loans in short time is impossible, and therefore, a complicated situation has emerged in the bank.”
To settle the situation, the government has reportedly recapitalized Agroinvestbonk with 700 million somoni. The government has reportedly issued equities for a total amount of 500 million somoni (for the period of eight years) for buying out those loans and contributed 200 million somoni as a founder.
We will recall that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) recommended in April that that the Tajik government hires, on a competitive basis, a reputable international management team to run Agroinvestbonk in order to protect the value of the bank and the government’s investment in the bank.
Agroinvestbonk is the second largest commercial bank in Tajikistan, focused on providing financial services to micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises and to the agricultural sector. Founded in 1992, Agroinvestbonk, with headquarters in Dushanbe, has main branches in Khorog, Khujand, Kulob and Qurghon Teppa and 61other branches across the republic.
