Over the first six months of this year, the official exchange rate of the Tajik national currency, the somoni (TJS), against the dollar (USD) has remained stable, the National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT) says.
Over the reporting period, the somoni has reportedly lost only 0.2 percent of its value against the U.S. dollar and the exchange rate of TJS against USD has increased from 11.3:1 on January 1, 2021 to 11.3210.
Meanwhile, over the first six months of last year, the somoni had lost 6.4 percent of its value against the U.S. dollar at the National Bank rate and 8.7 percent at the market rate.
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.
During last year, TJS lost 16.6 percent of its value against USD – from 9.69:1 on January 1, 2020 to 11.3:1 on December 31, 2020.
Last year, Tajikistan saw sharp currency devaluation in late March, when the somoni lost nearly 5.3 percent of its value against the dollar (at the National bank rate), when an average official buying rate of USD against TJS increased from 1:9.7 in mid-March to 1:10.2 on March 30.
The NBT specialists attributed last year’s 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.
In all, the official exchange rate of the somoni against the dollar declined 5.1 times – from 2.2:1 to the current 11.32:1.
