The Tajik national currency, the somoni (TJS), is continuing to devaluate against the dollar (USD).
Over the first ten months of this year, the somoni has lost 6.7 percent of its value against the U.S. dollar at the National Bank rate.
The current official exchange rate of the dollar against somoni is 1:11.3.
The National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT) has made a one-time correction of the official exchange rate of TJS against USD – from 10.3:1 to 11.3:1.
Tajikistan’s central bank explains this sharp rise with the intention to decrease the currency pressure and existing currency risks as well as to narrow the gap between the official and market exchange rates.
As of June 30, 2020, the difference between the official and market exchange rates of the dollar against the somoni was 3.2 percent (0.2 percent increase compared to June 29, 2019). The NBT attempts to keep this difference at 2 percent.
The official exchange rate is the rate of exchange announced by a country's foreign exchange administration, usually used by countries with strict foreign exchange controls.
The market exchange rate refers to the real exchange rate for trading foreign exchange in the free market.
The NBT specialists attribute devaluation of the Tajik national currency against the dollar to impact of global and regional economic and financial processes, a negative trade balance, decline in remittances and decrease in supply in the country’s currency market.
Tajikistan has mainly resorted to “administrative resources” to keep the currency on an even keel.
In December 2015, the National Bank ordered the closure of all unauthorized currency exchange points in the city. After that, only banks were able to perform foreign exchange operations. Anybody found violating this new arrangement could face jail terms of up to nine years. Also, banks are forbidden by law from selling somoni at more than 1.5 percent the rate established by the National Bank.
