Over the first four months of this year, Tajikistan has supplied more than 11.2 million US dollars’ worth of electricity to neighboring countries, which is 30.8 percent more than in the same period last year, according to the Agency for Statistics under the President of Tajikistan.
The Agency does not indicate to which countries Tajikistan has supplied electric power over the reporting period.
However, electricity exports are currently possible only to two countries — Afghanistan and Uzbekistan.
Tajikistan had earlier also supplied electricity to Kyrgyzstan, but after the latest clashes along the Tajik-Kyrgyz border that occurred in late April, all trade and economic ties have been severed.
Meanwhile, Uzbek Minister of Energy Alisher Sultonov recently told reporters in Tashkent that electricity imports from Tajikistan during the spring-summer period have been declining for a second consecutive year.
According to him, under an agreement concluded between the governments of the two countries last year, Tajikistan was supposed to supply 1.2 billion kWh of electricity to Uzbekistan during May-September 2020, but actually, Uzbekistan received over the reporting period only 566,000 kWh of electricity.
“No one can be blamed for this, as it happened for objective reasons – because of lack of water,” Uzbek minister said.
Sultonov further noted that according to an agreement concluded this year, Tajikistan will supply 197.4 million kWh of electric power to Uzbekistan during summer period.
Recall, Tajikistan last year supplied little more than 56.4 million US dollars’ worth of electricity to neighboring countries, which was 40 percent less than in 2019. This was due to an acute shortage of electricity in Tajikistan itself due to lack of water.
In 2019, Tajikistan reportedly exported nearly US$90 million worth about 2.9 billion kWh of electric power to neighboring countries. Compared to 2018, electricity exports increased by 400 million kWh and earnings increased by 23 million U.S. dollars.
In accordance with the reached agreements, Tajikistan reportedly supplies electricity to neighboring countries only during the April-October period.
Tajikistan has sufficient summer-time (defined as May 1 to September 30) hydropower surpluses to export to the neighboring countries.
