KULOB, August 12, 208, Asia-Plus -- Over the first seven months of this year, Tojiksodirotbonk’s (TSB) branch in Kulob has provided 8,751,371 somonis in loans, which is nearly 3 million somonis more than in the same period of last year, Asia-Plus has learned from Abdukarim Nematov, head of the TSB branch in Kulob.   

 According to him, farmers are gradually supplanting entrepreneurs as the main customers of the bank.   “Over the report period, entrepreneurs have received loans for a total amount of 4,460,111 somonis, and local farmers have received totaling 3,263,290 somonis, while in the same period of last years farmers accounted only for 10 percent of loan recipients,” Nematov said, noting that increase in the number o farmers among the loan recipients has resulted from a new mechanism of financing of the agrarian sector that has been introduced this year.    

 “22 farming units in the districts of Vose, Kulob and Hamadoni, growing cotton on an area of totaling 1,501 hectares, have applied to our bank for loans in a total amount of 3,916,500 somonis this year,” said the branch head, “To date, they have already received 2,569,952 somonis.”  

He further added that that had also provided 1,027,970 somonis in microloans since the beginning of this year for enhancements of the construction, transportation and communications sectors.   

TSB was established in December 1990 as the Tajik branch of the Vnesh Econom Bank of the former Soviet Union, and it initially specialized in trade and import-export banking.  Later this branch was reorganized into a Joint-Stock Commercial Bank “Tajikvnesheconombank”. In June 1999 the bank was renamed and registered as Tojiksodirotbonk or TSB.

Headquartered in Dushanbe, TSB has 11 branches in the main cities of Tajikistan and covering all regions of the country. Its clients include the biggest Tajik trading companies, other enterprises, entrepreneurs, and some of the embassies and diplomatic organizations based in Dushanbe.