The National bank of Tajikistan (NBT) is reportedly taking measures to stabilize the country’s currency market.
“Since the beginning of the year, the Tajik national currency, the somoni, has lost 7.32% of its value against the dollar at the official exchange rate,” said an official source at Tajik central bank. “Meanwhile, the somoni has lost 13.3% of its value against the dollar at the market exchange rate over the same period.”
“To stabilize the situation in the country’s currency market we have increased the refinancing rate from 11% to 16% and we are carrying out auctions on selling the NBT certificates in order to regulate the volume of the money aggregates,” said the source. “Besides, working groups have been set up to control activities of the lending organizations carrying out currency exchange and money transfer transactions.”
A shortage of dollars in circulation in Tajikistan has led to further devaluation of the national currency. The somoni lost 2.2% of its value against the dollar on April 11, from 8.82 somoni per $1 on April 10 to 9.02 somoni per $1.
Meanwhile, it is practically impossible to purchase dollars because some banks have no dollars to speak of, while others can offer not more than $200 per person. (News.tj/Business World Magazine)
