Tag Archives: Tajikistan

Tajik somoni hits record low

DEC. 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan’s somoni currency fell to its lowest ever level of 7/$1 just as the Central Bank was bringing in draconian new rules which will shut all independent exchange kiosks within two months.

So far this year, the somoni has lost 31% of its value. The Central Bank has previously admitted that it is on the verge of running out of money, having spent its reserves propping up its ailing currency.

The Central Bank issued a statement saying that the remaining 763 currency exchanges would be closed over the next few months and that people would only be allowed to make currency exchanges through the banks.

Ordinary Tajiks have seen this before. In April, the Central Bank issued a similar edict which closed half the exchange booths in the country. It didn’t stop the currency slide, though.

Between April and the end of November, the somoni fell from 5.8/$1 to 6.7/$1, a fall of 15.5%.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 259, published on Dec. 4 2015)

Tajikistan moves towards EEU

DEC. 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan’s parliament ratified a treaty that guaranteed investment protection for members of the defunct Eurasian Economic Community, a precursor of the Kremlin-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). The treaty itself is of no significance but signing it does signify Tajikistan’s determination to join the EEU.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 259, published on Dec. 4 2015)

Currencies: Kyrgyzstan’s som, Tajikistan’s somoni

DEC. 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Kyrgyz som continued its slump against the dollar and now trades at above 75.5/$1. The Central Bank chairman Tolkunbek Abdygulov said the exchange rate had changed because of a speculative attack and promised to continue to intervene to prop up the currency. The regulator said that local bank FinanceCredit was found guilty of speculative trading of the som. In addition, the Central Bank fined several exchange points across the country for speculating on currency rates.

In Tajikistan, the somoni was stable at 6.7/$1, after a rough week. On Nov. 30, media reported that Dushanbe residents had to pay around 7.5somoni for $1. The Central Bank reacted by drafting a decree that shut down the remaining private exchange bureaus in the country. Earlier in April, it had forced the closure of over 800 out of a total of 1,500 exchange bureaus because it said they were taking advantage of the unstable currency markets.

On Dec. 1, the Central Bank also reported the arrest of six employees of exchange bureaus for currency speculation. As with the Kyrgyz incidents, the details of these so-called speculative attacks have been difficult to pin down.

But none of this is surprising in Central Asia’s currency markets.

We witnessed a similar trend in Kazakhstan in 2014, when a devaluation of the tenge was followed by speculative attacks on the currency and interventions to keep the tenge from plummeting. This was repeated this year again in Kazakhstan.

It is likely that both Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan will follow this trend and crack down on private exchange bureaus to strengthen their control over exchange rates.

In much of the rest of the region, currencies did not move. The exception was Uzbekistan. The Uzbek sum reached a new record trading low, officially, at 2,755/$1. In the last year, it lost almost 15% of its value.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 259, published on Dec. 4 2015)

Tajikistan extradites 2 men to Kyrgyzstan

NOV. 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The authorities in Tajikistan sent two Kyrgyz men to Kyrgyzstan for allegedly trying to recruit people to join the radical IS group in Syria and Iraq, media reported. Central Asian governments are worried about an increase in IS recruiting in the region.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 259, published on Dec. 4 2015)

Auchan imports Tajik products

DEC. 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Russian branch of French retailer Auchan said it would import goods from Tajikistan, Morocco and China to make up for the decline in imports from Turkey, which will be subjected to an import ban imposed by Russia after a Turkish plane shot down a Russian fighter-jet over Syria. Auchan will open a supermarket in Dushanbe in 2016. Auchan already operates a Russia-Tajikistan distribution line.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 259, published on Dec. 4 2015)

Business comment: Transit rush in Eurasia

DEC. 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — From Iran to Lithuania, several countries have tried to impose their agenda to lay out transit routes across the South Caucasus and Central Asia.

Iran, which will soon be no longer cut off from international trade by Western sanctions, said it wants to become a road and rail transport link between Pakistan and the South Caucasus.

The link, which would run through Afghanistan and Tajikistan, would also connect Central Asia to Azerbaijan, said Iranian minister of roads and urban development Abbas Akhoundi.

In Klaipeda, Lithuania, thousands of kilometres away from the region, representatives from Lithuanian, Kazakh and Georgian railway and maritime companies met with large transport companies — among which were Britain-based DBSchenker and Germany-based InterRail Logistics — to design a China-Europe Trans-Caspian International Transport Route.

Georgia and Turkey also want to be included in the project, which could compete with the EU- sponsored TRACECA corridors spanning from Central Asia to Europe and the Beijing-funded One

Belt One Road project from Eastern China to Western Europe.

In addition, because of the recent diplomatic row between Russia and Turkey, Azerbaijan has come forward and said it wants to become the transport hub for Turkish goods to Central Asia.

The growing links across the region will improve connectivity and cut back on transport times for westbound goods from China, South and Central Asia.

And its worth keeping in mind that stresses caused by the Russia- Turkey row may create opportunities for new trade routes.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 259, published on Dec. 4 2015)

Tajikistan’s debt increases

NOV. 26 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan debt-to-GDP ratio will rise to 30% by the end of the year from 22.5% at the start of the year, media quoted various analysts as saying. Tajikistan’s growing debt ratio highlights the impact of the economic downturn on the economies of Central Asia and the South Caucasus. Tajikistan’s remittances from Russia have fallen 40% this year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 258, published on Nov. 27 2015)

Tajikistan extends website blocks

NOV. 25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan’s parliament passed a law which will make it legal for the authorities to switch off the internet during counterterrorism operations. The Tajik authorities regularly block access to social media and news websites which they say promote Islamic extremism, irritating free speech campaigners.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 258, published on Nov. 27 2015)

Tajik president to be given title of “Leader of the Nation”

NOV. 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon is about to add another title to his growing list of names. Already called “His Excellency”, he will now add the moniker “Leader of the Nation”.

A group of deputies of the lower chamber of parliament have submitted a draft law proposing that Mr Rakhmon take this title.

One of the proposers of the bill, Abdurahim Kholikzoda told local media that the draft has been prepared because of a groundswell of support from ordinary Tajiks who want to honour their president and everything he has achieved.

“This is a tribute to the merits of the outstanding son of the Tajik people, President Emomali Rakhmon, and for his services to the country and the people of the country,” media quoted Mr Kholikzoda as saying.

Mr Kholikzoda has a track record of lavishly praising Mr Rakhmon. Once head of the State Religion Committee of Tajikistan, he called Mr Rakhmon “the sun” and “the star of happiness” earlier this year.

Many ordinary Tajik are suspicious, though, and suspect that Mr Rakhmon’s new title is a crude attempt to curry favour.

A Dushanbe resident called Farhod said: “We have the lowest economic development in the post- Soviet space, our migrants are dying in Russia, our families are freezing in areas without electricity or poisoned by carbon monoxide of coal, corruption is developed, and the list can go on.

“However, what are our MPs doing? They compete to invent such laws to get the attention of the President. I am speechless.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 258, published on Nov. 27 2015)

EBRD gives airport loan to Tajikistan

NOV. 26 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has given Khujand airport in north Tajikistan, a loan of $900,000 to modernise its runway and buy other essential kit, media reported. The EBRD is a major lender to infrastructure projects in Tajikistan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 258, published on Nov. 27 2015)