DUSHANBE, September 16, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- The Word Bank is expected to approve a new Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) for Tajikistan in November this year, according to the World Bank Dushanbe Office.

The new CAS for Tajikistan for the next three years (2010-2012) envisages a World Bank lending program of some 70 million U.S. dollars.

The objective of World Bank Group strategy is to help Tajikistan minimize effects of the global financial crisis, the source said.

According him, the new strategy developers expect the poverty rate to decrease another several percentage points in Tajikistan after implementation of the new CAS.  Over the past five years, the poverty rate in Tajikistan has decreased from 64 to 41 percent, the source added.