DUSHANBE, September 29, 2015, Asia-Plus -- The remainder of loans provided by Tajik banks rose 23.7 percent in a year to September 30, 2015, reaching more than 11.3 billion somoni (equivalent to more than 1.7 billion U.S. dollars), according to the National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT).

Nearly 4.9 billion somoni (43.2 percent) have been provided in short-term loans and more than 6.4 billion somoni (56.8 percent) have been provided in long-term loans.

Over the first nine months of this year, the weighted average interest rate for loans provided in the national currency has risen 0.56 percent and the weighted average interest rate for loans provided in foreign currencies has risen 1.94 percent.

Meanwhile, the volume of micro loans provided over the same nine-month period has reportedly amounted to more than 4.1 billion somoni, including 734 million somoni provided to entrepreneurs in remote mountain areas.

According to Tajik central bank, 141 lending organizations, including 17 banks, one non-bank credit institution, 41 microloan deposit organizations, 43 microloan organizations and 39 microloan funds now operate in Tajikistan.