DUSHANBE, May 14, Asia-Plus -- Strict monetary policy conducted by the National bank of Tajikistan (NBT) leads to deficiency of reserve funds in the country and as consequence to incomplete use of capacities of many enterprises in Tajikistan, Nouriddin Qayumov, the director of the Institute for Economic Studies at the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade (MoEDT), remarked at a roundtable meeting formally titling “State and Prospects of Economy in Tajikistan” in Dushanbe on May 11.      

According to him, monetization of economy, as a long-term process, increases as financial stabilization is reached and inflation rate is curbed.  

“An optimal level of monetization for market economy is 50%-80%; in Russia and Kazakhstan, this index is nearing 25%-28%,” said Qayumov, “In Tajikistan, it amounted to only 4.2% last year, which is 1.7 percent lower than in 2002.”  Tajik central bank expects this index to have reached 15 percent only by 2015, according to him.

“With regard to 7.0-7.5% annual growth in gross domestic product (GDP) and 2.1-2.2% grwoth in the population, such policy of central bank may lead to deficiency of reserve funds in the country and consequently to incomplete use of capacities of many enterprises,” the director said. 

In order to yield good results in the use of potentials of Tajik national economy, it is necessary to bring the monetization policy into compliance with requirements of tasks aimed at speeding up the economic development pace, Qayumov said.

He also noted that loans still remain inaccessible that impedes entrepreneurial activity of entities of market relations. 

In the meantime, according to Tajik central bank, the strict monetary policy is conducted for the purpose of controlling the inflation rate in the country.