Commercial bank exchange offices in Tajikistan have refused to buy dollars in recent days.
At the same time, the cash dollar purchase rate has noticeably decreased over the past week.
Over the past week, an average market buying exchange rate of the dollar against the Tajik national currency, the somonis, has fallen 5.0 percent – from 1:13 on March 23 to 1:12.3 on March 30.
An average market selling exchange rate of the dollar against the somoni has fallen slightly over the past week – from 1:13.04 on March 23 to 1:12.95 on March 30.
Today, those wishing to exchange dollars for somoni can be met practically at each commercial bank exchange office.
Previously, people, on the contrary, tried to buy dollarsю Banks were willing to buy American currency, but did not sell, justifying this by saying that they do not have it.
Local experts attribute the unusual situation in the country’s foreign exchange market to political and financial and economic trends taking place in Russia, intentions of the Russian authorities to sell natural gas for rubles.
Meanwhile, the official exchange rate of the somoni against the dollar set by the National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT) on March 30 is 12.96:1
To prevent the exchange rate pressure in the country’s currency market, sharp exchange rate volatility and the significant difference between the official and the unofficial rate, the NBT conducted one-time adjustment on March 10. The difference between the official and the unofficial exchange rate should be no more than 2.0%.
As far as the exchange rate of the Russian ruble against the somoni is concerned, it increased from 1:0.125 on March 25 to 1:0.151 on March 30.
In Russia, an average exchange rate of the Russian rubble against the dollar has risen 10 percent over the past week.
The NBT has not yet commented on the current situation in the country’s internal currency market.