The Government of Tajikistan has committed itself to the financial rehabilitation of Barki Tojik until 2031 in cooperation with the World Bank.
This is reported by the international rating agency Standard & Poor's Global Ratings, citing official data received from relevant ministries and departments to determine the country's sovereign credit rating.
The agency's analysts attribute the significant debt owed by Bark Tochik to private creditors and suppliers to "the sale of electricity by the company at a price below the cost recovery level."
"By 2027, it is planned to increase average domestic electricity tariffs to the level of full cost recovery and reduce technical and commercial losses," the S&P report says.
It notes that the government has increased electricity prices for domestic and industrial consumers by 17% in 2022 and by another 15% in 2024.
According to S&P experts, the obligations of state-owned enterprises, including loans, fines and other debts, amount to about 35% of the country's GDP, of which about 90% is accounted for by Barki Tojik.
They emphasize that, despite this, the government continues to provide guarantees for Barki Tojik's external loans. The total debt of JSC Barki Tojik, which is owned by the Government of Tajikistan, exceeds 37.4 billion somoni (about $3.4 billion) at the beginning of this year.
Recall that electricity tariffs were increased only in even–numbered years until 2016, and after that on an annual basis. The exceptions were 2020 and 2021, when the government refrained from these activities due to the effects of the COVID–19 pandemic.
The last time tariffs for all categories of consumers were increased was on January 1 of this year. Household consumers currently pay 30.75 dirhams (2.9 cents) for each kilowatt hour.
In general, the cost of electricity for the population has increased 3.4 times over the past decade: from 9 dirhams for each kilowatt hour in January 2010 to 30.75 dirhams currently.
The relevant structures of the republic associated the increase in the cost of electricity, among other things, with the recommendations of the World Bank, which is the country's main creditor. Back in the early 1990s, the World Bank advised gradually raising tariffs for household consumers to 3.5 cents "in order to encourage rationalization of energy use."
