DUSHANBE, June 12, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- Tajikistan has received the Third Programmatic Development Policy Grant in an amount of more than 20.5 million U.S. dollars, according to the Ministry of Finance (MoF).

The aim of the grant is to safeguard Tajikistan’s ongoing reform and poverty reduction program by helping to partially fill the unanticipated financing gap created by the global economic crisis.

The source at a MoF said that the provided funds would go to opportunely serving external debt and carrying out reforms in the social sector.

We will recall that an agreement on the Third Programmatic Development Policy Grant was signed in Dushanbe last April.

The grant will also help sustain the confidence of investors by supporting policies to promote macroeconomic stability, to encourage private investment, and to create a professional public service – essential if the economy is to modernize and grow.  Specifically, the grant helps the authorities to reduce the regulatory burden on business, to ensure that privatization of state owned enterprises is carried out transparently and fairly, to create the basis for competitive aviation, energy, and agricultural sectors, to reform the public administration, and to improve delivery of health and education services.

The grant has been provided as direct budget support.  It is the third such operation supporting the government’s reform program laid out in Tajikistan’s first and second poverty reduction strategies.  The resources are critical to support Tajikistan’s efforts to promote growth, improve governance, and reduce poverty.