DUSHANBE, January 24, 2012, Asia-Plus  -- 80 million somoni (equivalent to US$16.8 million) are expected to be provided this year to replenish state reserves.

Minister of Finance Safarali Najmiddinov remarked this yesterday at a meeting with reporters in Dushanbe.

Last year, 70 million somoni were spent to replenish state reserves, Najmiddinov noted.  “These funds mostly went to purchasing oil products because there was risk of deficiency of fuels and hike in fuel prices last year,” said the minister.  “Besides, we also purchased wheat, flour, sugar as well as matches and detergents last year.”

10 million somoni were spent to purchase building materials for carrying out recovery operations in case of disasters.

Najmiddinov noted that Tajikistan now has state reserves worth 310 million somoni (equivalent to 65.1 million U.S. dollars).