Tajikistan
Tajikistan has one of the lowest per capita GDPs of the 15 former Soviet republics. About 93% of Tajikistan's territory is covered by mountains, more than 50% of them rising to 3,000 meters and more. Only 6% of the land area is arable; cotton is the most important crop. Mineral resources - of various kinds but limited in amount - include silver, gold, uranium and tungsten. Industry consists only of a large aluminium plant, hydropower facilities and small antiquated factories, most of which are in the light industry and food processing sectors.
The civil war (1992-97) severely damaged the already weak economic infrastructure and caused a sharp decline in industrial and agricultural production. Even though 64% of its people continue to live in abject poverty, Tajikistan has experienced steady economic growth since 1997. Continued privatisation of medium and large state-owned enterprises would further increase productivity. Tajikistan's economic situation, however, remains fragile due to uneven implementation of structural reforms, poor governance, widespread unemployment and the external debt burden. A debt restructuring and write-off agreement was reached with Russia in 2002. Although Tajikistan is not a HIPC country, it is eligible under the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative of the World Bank and IMF because of its low per capita GDP (in 2004). A large proportion of its multilateral debts are likely to be written off in 2006.
Water resources per capita are among the highest in the world but potential is not being fully exploited. Proposed investment to finish the hydropower dams Rogun and Sangtuda would increase electricity production substantially. However, this could worsen relations with Uzbekistan and other Central Asian states because the huge volumes of water retained would deprive them of much-needed irrigation.
| Brief facts on Tajikistan | |
|---|---|
| Area | 143,000 km² |
| Capital | Dushanbe |
| Population | 6.85 million (a) |
| GDP¹ 2005 (USD bn) | 2.33 (b) |
| Real GDP growth in 2005 (in %) | 6.7 (b) |
| Annual inflation in 2005 (in %) | 7.1 (c) |
| Currency | Somoni (USD 1 = TJS 3.38 (d) ) |
| HDI² | Rank 122, Score 0.652 (e) |
| Languages | Tajik (official), Russian, Uzbek |
| Ethnic groups | Tajiks (65%), Uzbeks (25%), Russian, Tatar, Kyrgyz and others |
¹ Gross Domestic Product
² Human Development Index
Sources:
(a) ADB 2006
(b) World Bank 2005
(c) EIU Country Report Tajikistan 2006
(d) National Bank of Tajikistan 10/2006
(e) UNDP 2005, CIA World Fact Book, www.cagateway.org
Bilateral German Financial Cooperation with Tajikistan began in 2002. Since then the German federal government has committed EUR 80.5 million as bilateral development cooperation. Furthermore, an additional amount of EUR 33 million for emergency relief measures had been allocated. For Financial Cooperation EUR 58.1 million have so far been committed.
KfW Office Dushanbe
Sovetskaya Str. 107
743001 Dushanbe
Tajikistan
Phone: +992 44 600 67 70
Fax: +992 44 600 67 70
E-mail: farukh.kasymov_extern@kfw.de
Local Consultant KfW: Farukh Kasymov
Please also refer to the German Embassy.
(Last updated: 11/2006)
