2019
Population, million 9.3
GDP, current US$ billion 8.1
GDP per capita, current US$ 874
GDP-real growth rate 7.5%
Sources: The World Bank 2019
Recent Economic Developments
According to official statistics, GDP growth remained strong in 2019 at 7.5 percent. A jump in exports and a recovery in remittances helped narrow the current account deficit to an estimated 4.3 percent of GDP in 2019. Export earnings rose by 9.4 percent, supported by higher shipments abroad of precious metals and electricity.
Delays in rolling out the Targeted Social Assistance (TSA) program to an additional 28 regions and slow progress on the decision to increase the TSA’s budget by 10 percent have put this important anti-poverty measure on hold.
Except for two problem banks, the financial sector has continued on its recovery from the 2016 banking crisis, showing an improvement in the quality of the credit portfolio. The share of nonperforming loans stood at 26 percent at the end of 2019. Banking sector profitability also continued to improve, and the level of dollarization declined to 53 percent at the end of 2019 from a peak of 64 percent in 2015.
The poverty rate—using Tajikistan’s official poverty line—fell to 27.4 percent in 2018, reflecting a recovery in remittance inflows. The rate of extreme poverty also fell steadily from 18 percent in 2013 to 12 percent in 2018.
Trade turnover
(mln. USD) 2017 2018 2019 9 months 2020
Foreign trade turnover: 3973 4223 4523.7 3420.3
Export: 1198 1074 1174.4 1189.0
Import: 2774 3150 3349.3 2231.3.