DUSHANBE, November 20, 2015, Asia-Plus – In January-October this year, the state budget has received 427 million less (equivalent to 65 million U.S. dollars) than it was originally planned, according to the Ministry of Finance (MoF).
The state budget for the first ten months of this year has amounted to 12.1472 billion somoni, which was 96.6 percent of the target that has been determined at 12.5477 billion somoni.
An official source at a MoF attributes budget shortages to reduction in customs revenue that has reportedly resulted from the sharp decrease in imports of goods into the country.
According to the Agency for Statistics under the President of Tajikistan, imports of goods into the country in January-October this year have amounted to 2.7735 billion U.S. dollars, which was nearly 20 percent fewer than in the same year last year (In January-October 2014, imports of goods into the country amounted to 3.5477 billion U.S. dollars).
Meanwhile, experts from the World Bank note that the country’s tax authorities are trying to compensate tax arrears with various non tax revenues.
Ms. Marina Bakanova, the World Bank Senior Country Economist for Tajikistan, noted on November 17 that tax arrears were compensated with various non tax revenues, including various sanctions-related fines and “the rate of collection of the sanctions-related fines was not bad.” “Such a situation leads to diffusion of tax basis and it (the situation) will undoubtedly affect tax collection in the country in the future,” she added.
She also noted that delay in revision of Tajikistan’s national budget for this year may lead to some difficulties. Ms. Bakanova stressed that the parameters of the budget for this year had not been reviewed and the plans on implementation of the budget remained the same.
We will recall that experts from international organizations recommended last spring that the Tajik authorities should review parameters of the national budget for this year.
