DUSHANBE, Tajikistan, November 27. The EBRD (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development) has commended Tajikistan for its successful inflation level, Trend reports.
According to the bank, Tajikistan is the only country in Central Asia that is currently keeping inflation within its central bank's goal range of 4-8 percent.
As inflationary pressures subsided, Tajikistan's National Bank steadily dropped its policy rate from 13% in November 2022 to 10% in May 2023, according to the EBRD.
According to the bank's economists, while the Tajik somoni has fallen 7.4 percent against the US dollar since the beginning of 2023, it remains much higher than its value prior to the Ukraine conflict. Although the currency appears resilient to the steep fall of the Russian ruble in August 2023, the EBRD warns that it is highly likely to encounter severe consequences later in the year through remittances.
The EBRD projects Tajikistan's average inflation for 2023 to be around 4.6 percent, while it was 6.6 percent in 2022 and 9 percent in 2021.
Additionally, the EBRD noted that Tajikistan's economy continued its robust growth in the first half of 2023, with a year-on-year GDP growth of 8.3 percent, which was supported by China's reopening after COVID, Russia's consistent demand for workers from Tajikistan, and active government spending.
According to the National Bank of Tajikistan, the inflation rate in the country amounted to 5.1 percent by the end of September 2023.