DUSHANBE, April 16, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- The global financial crisis will have a moderate impact on the Tajikistan’s economy, Olimjon Bobokalonov, deputy director of the Center for Strategic Studies, remarked at a press conference in Dushanbe on April 15.

“Economy of Tajikistan is not so closely connected with world economy and the world financial transactions involving speculative risk,” said the senior expert from the Tajik think tank, “Therefore, the impact of the financial crisis on our country will be not so heavy.”

According to him, the global financial crisis has hit mainly three branches of economy – banking system, real sector of economy, and labor resources.

In the banking system, the crisis has resulted in banks’ liquidity funds deceasing.  Besides, loans have become more expensive and loan losses have increased.

In the real sector of economy, the global financial crisis has led to the fall in the international prices of cotton fiber and aluminum that are the main items of Tajik exports that has negatively impacted external account.

“As far as the labor resources are concerned, Tajik labor migrants are working mainly in Russia and Kazakhstan that have been hit by the financial crisis, and therefore, many of them have lost jobs or do not receive wages regularly that has led to decrease in remittances to the country,” Bobokalonov said, noting that in 2008, labor migrants remitted 2-2.5 billion US dollars to banks in Tajikistan.