Deputies of the Majlisi Namoyandagon (Tajikistan’s lower chamber of parliament) have raised the issue of payment by distressed banks of savings to their customers once again.
A regular sitting of the Majlisi Namoyandagon, presided over by its head, Shukurjon Zuhurov, was held on November 29.
Parliamentarians once again asked the head of the National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT), Jamshed Nourmahmadzoda, when Tojik Sodirot Bonk (TSB) and Agroinvestbonk would pay out savings to their customers.
Speaking at the session, MP Rustam Qudratov noted that voters always asked that question.
NBT head noted that that problem was being resolved gradually. “Over the past two months, Agroinvestbonk has paid more than 61 million somoni to its customers and TSB has paid 54 million somoni to its customers,” Nourmahmadzoda said
According to him, both banks have settled with customers who had on their bank accounts sums equivalent to 500 U.S. dollars.
“According to information I have, to-date, TSB and Agroinvestbonk have paid more than 1.5 billion somoni to their customers and they have to pay another some 1.3 billion somoni,” Majlisi Namoyandagon speaker Shukurjon Zuhurov said.
Meanwhile, Tajik central bank head noted that over the first ten months of this year, the population had deposited 470 million somoni in local banks, which was 5 percent less than in the same period last year.
Recall, TSB, Agroinvestbonk, Tajprombank and Fononbonk have been experiencing liquidity issues since 2015. Parliament in December 2016 approved a government decree to issue bonds to recapitalize the mentioned banks. TSB and Agroinvestbonk were topped up by 2.25 billion somoni (US$284 million) and 1.7 billion somoni (US$215 million) respectively.
Meanwhile, Tajprombank and Fononbonk never saw any of the 450 million somoni (US$56 million) and the 80 million somoni (US$10 million) earmarked for them respectively as the NBT on February 24 announced it was pulling their licenses.
Customers at Tajprombank and Fononbonk have been paid out 17,500 somoni (around $2,000) out of the state’s Individuals Deposits Insurance Fund. Anybody with more than that amount of money in the banks is still waiting to see how much they will get in the end.
In April, it emerged that the government decided unilaterally to allocate the $66 million it had set aside as bailout funds for Tajprombank and Fononbonk to construction work on the Roghun hydroelectric power plant (HPP).
