KULOB, July 27, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- Eleven farming units from three districts in Khatlon’s Kulob zone have repaid 93 percent of cotton loans taken from local branches of Amonatbonk (Tajikistan’s savings bank) last year, Rajabali Kulabekov, an agronomy expert with Amonatbonk’s branch in Kulob, said in an interview with Asia-Plus.

In the Kulob zone, Amonatbonk last year provided a total of 8.22 million somoni in loans to 225 farming units in four districts.  “This year, the bank has provided loans to 185 farming units in the Kulob zone,” Kulabekov said.

In the meantime, Abdukarim Nematov, the head of the branch of the National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT), told Asia-Plus on Saturday that banks and microlending organizations operating in the Kulob zone have provided a total of 49,808,521 somoni in loans in January-June 2009, which is 30 million somoni fewer than in the same period last year.

“The loans have been provided mainly to farmers (58.6 percent),” said Nematov, “The commercial organizations and small enterprises have accounted for 26 percent of the overall volume of loans provided over the report period and the remaining organizations have accounted for 13.6 percent.”