DUSHANBE, July 21, 2011, Asia-Plus -- Time will come when the government will have to give back savings of depositors that had been depreciated during the Soviet time.

Head of President’s Executive Office Matloubkhon Davlatov, who is also member of the Majlisi Milli (Tajikistan’s upper chamber of parliament), remarked this at the Majlisi Milli session in Dushanbe on July 21.

“To-date, the government has not yet compensated citizens’ depreciated deposits but time will come when the government will have to give back the depreciated Soviet-era deposits,” Davlatov said.

He noted that the Law on Insurance of Deposits of Physical Entities provided for the establishment of the Savings Deposit Fund (the Fund) and all banks and lending agencies of country would become members of the Fund without fail.  They will pay membership fees at the rate equal to 0.5 percent of their authorized capitals, Tajik official noted.

According to him, the Fund is dedicated to ensure protection of deposits of the population against any economic or financial cataclysms.  The Fund may also receive loans from the government, Davlatov added.

According to data of the National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT), population’s deposits kept in local banks and lending agencies now amount to some 1.5 billion somoni.

Some local experts believe that the deposit insurance law will promote transferring savings of some Tajik nationals kept in foreign banks to local banks.  They say that according to unconfirmed information, deposits of Tajik nationals kept in foreign banks now fluctuated between US$1.5 billion and US$2 billion.