The National Bank of Tajikistan, together with the World Bank, developed a project to stabilize the country's financial sector. The project is funded by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs of Switzerland (SECO).

The project implementation issues were discussed at a meeting of the NBT First Deputy Head Jamoliddin Nuraliev with representatives of the World Bank's project on financial sector sustainability, who were in the republic on a working visit on October 1-3, this year, the press service of the Tajik regulator reports.

Nuraliev noted that in order to improve the country's banking system over the past three years, the National Bank has carried out many reforms.

The development of a project aimed at stabilizing the financial sector of the country, he called important and timely for the development of the system.

The project on stabilization of the financial sector (Financial sector-stability Project) is designed for the years 2018-2021. SECO allocates 2.2 million Swiss francs for its implementation.

During the meeting, Reto Weirman, Director of the Swiss Federal Department of Economic Cooperation, noted that the project implementation procedure is currently under study and discussion.

Weirman expressed hope for a high-quality implementation of the project, which, in his opinion, in the future will contribute to even greater investment in the country's banking system.

Financial and banking problems

The banking system of Tajikistan over the past three years, lacking financial resources.

It all started in 2016 due to the recent financial crisis in Russia and, accordingly, the decline in remittances of Tajik labor migrants from this country. Remittances of individuals from Russia to Tajikistan in two years decreased from more than $ 4 billion in 2014 to $ 1.9 billion in 2016.

The lack of financial resources has led to the fact that many credit institutions were unable to fulfill their obligations to customers, as debtors could not return to banks on time and in full received loans.

As a result, four banks in the country were on the verge of bankruptcy. Two larger banks - "Tajiksodirotbank" and "Agroinvestbank" - were rescued thanks to financial assistance provided by the government early last year. Two more banks – “Tajprombank” and “Fonobank” have lost their licenses, and the process of their liquidation is currently ongoing.

Many clients of these credit organizations, both rescued and having gone bankrupt, still cannot return their funds.