DUSHANBE, October 25, 2010, Asia-Plus  -- Tajikistan’s savings bank, Amonatbonk, will act as an agent of open joint-stock company (OJSC) at the country’s share market.

Minister of Finance Safarali Najmiddinov remarked this at a news conference in Dushanbe on October 25.  According to him, they are currently working out appropriate laws for establishment of a secondary equity market.

“We have prepared an agreement with the country’s share market and it will be signed in the near future,” said the minister, “I think auctions will be held in the near future.  We are interested in intensifying work of the share market through the sale of Roghun shares.”

“The mechanism is very complex and it is not yet known when it is introduced,” stressed Najmiddinov, “May be the first stage of this project will be launched by the end of this year.”

We will recall that Najmiddinov told reporters on April 26 that it will soon be possible to buy and sell shares in the Roghun hydropower plant (HPP) on the open market.  Jamshed Shermatov, who heads the Finance Ministry department that oversees the stock market, added that the buying and selling of Roghun shares will be done through registered market brokers. He did not give a date when such exchanges will be possible.

The government announced in January this year that it needed some 6 billion somoni to complete construction of Roghun hydroelectric power plant (HPP) and launched a campaign to persuade Tajiks to buy shares in the project.  The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in April this year that the US$184 million already raised from the sale of shares is enough to finance two years of construction, and said the government should suspend its campaign to sell shares.  The IMF team head Axel Schimmelpfennig told reporters in Dushanbe on April 13 that the Roghun fundraising campaign had a negative impact on macroeconomic and social indicators of the country.  According to him, funds collected for the construction of the Roghun in recent months amounted to 3 percent of Tajikistan’s gross domestic product (GDP).