Wednesday, August 15, 2012 -
Tajikistan’s economy grew by 7.4 percent in the first six months of 2012, the Eurasian Bank for Development (EBD) said on Wednesday.
Trade and paid services contributed 20 percent and 13 percent respectively towards the gross domestic product (GDP), the bank said, basing its analysis on operational data from the State Statistics Agency.
Industrial growth gained 12 percent during the six-month period versus the same time frame a year earlier, boosted by a nearly two-fold increase in textile and clothing production. Meantime, the food industry saw a 4.5 percent growth in output.
Government number crunchers have not yet released figures for the balance of payments for the January-July 2012 period, the Tajik independent news agency Avesta.tj cited EDB as saying in its report.
Nevertheless, the international lender warned that Tajikistan’s large and ongoing trade deficit is persisting, although largely offset by remittances from its large numbers of nationals working abroad.
Inflation continues to decline and was measured 4.6 percent in June 2012 over June last year.
Annual GDP growth is expected to rise by 6 percent in the next two years.
But the bank warned that excessive dependence on remittances and undiversified exports could present problems to the economy.
Tajikistan has yet to benefit from the massive amount of oil reserves located by Canadian energy firm Tethys Petroleum, announced earlier this summer.
In related Tajik economic news, President Emomali Rahmon inked an order raising the minimum wage of workers by 250 percent to $42 per month. The new rate effective across all sectors of the economy will kick in from 1 January 2013.
The decree also included measures aimed at bolstering social security levels and covered public sector salaries, pensions, and various allowances.
Tajikistan is the poorest of the five Central Asian states.