DUSHANBE, December 19, 2013, Asia-Plus — World Bank”s
Tajikistan Partnership Program Snapshot
published in October, in particular, notes that economic growth in Tajikistan has been accompanied by steady poverty reduction.
Poverty rates, measured by national poverty lines, dropped from 81 percent in 1999 to 47 percent in 2009. Extreme poverty rates, based on the food poverty line, declined even faster, from 73 percent in 1999 to 14 percent in 2009. In spite of this remarkable performance, poverty is still very high and its further reduction, along with an improvement in standards of living, are priority goals for Tajikistan in the National Development Strategy to 2015.
According to the report, income decomposition of poverty reduction shows that labor earnings and remittances were the key sources of poverty reduction during 2003– 09. For instance, out of a decline in poverty of 40 percentage points, labor earnings and remittances accounted for 20 and 12 percentage points, respectively. Other income components also contributed to poverty reduction, but their role was negligible.
Meanwhile, Tajik government stopped publishing information on the volume of remittances sent to Tajikistan in May. We will recall that in a report released in Dushanbe, the NBT head Abdujabbor Shirinov revealed on July 23, 2013 that Tajikistan will no longer release cash transfer data. According to him, the government stopped publishing information on the volume of remittances sent to Tajikistan in May. “I”d rather not talk about migrants” funds because this issue may be politicized,” Abdujabbor Shirinov said.
