DUSHANBE, January 19, 2016, Asia-Plus — Despite all measures being taken by Tajik authorities, the Tajik national currency, the somoni (TJS), has continued depreciating against the dollar (USD) due to impact of economic crisis in Russia, which is one of the main trading partners of Tajikistan and the main country of destination for Tajik labor migrants.
Remittances from Russia in January-September in 2015 reportedly dropped by 65.1 percent to $1.54 billion compared to the same period the previous year, when the figure stood at $3.16 billion.
The somoni has reportedly lost nearly 7.3 percent of its value against the dollar since January 1.
An official exchange rate of the somoni against the dollar set by the National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT) reportedly fell from 7.1101:1 on January 1 to 7.4995:1 on January on19 – a 7.28 percent decline.
On December 31, 2015, the official rate was 6.99 somoni to 1.00 dollar.
As far as the cash market is concerned, an average market exchange of the somoni against the dollar has also fallen. If on January 1, banks were buying the dollar at 7.45 somoni, banks’ websites are now showing 8.20 somoni.
Currency-exchange points in Dushanbe have stopped selling U.S. dollars as the exchange rate of the somoni has sharply fallen.
As it had been reported earlier, the somoni lost 31.6 percent of its value against the dollar in a year to December 31, 2015 – from 5.46:1 on December 31, 2014, to 6.9902:1 on December 31, 2015.
According to
EurasiaNet.org
, a $400 daily limit has been placed on how many dollars account-holders can draw on their cards.
In December, Tajik central bank reportedly suspected operations at all money exchanges points, citing speculation, leaving only banks the right to perform the transaction. Anybody carrying out unauthorized currency exchanges could face stiff penalties, the central bank said.
Meanwhile, the so-called black market is flourishing in Tajikistan. The current average black market rate of the dollar in Tajikistan is 1:8.70.
