DUSHANBE, July 11, 2016, Asia-Plus – Closed Joint-Stock Company (CJSC) Spitamen Bank and Asia-Plus news agency have signed an agreement on collaboration in raising financial literacy of the population.

Under this agreement, materials on financial literacy will be posted on Asia-Plus’s website, which remains the most visited website in the country.

The agreement was signed in the framework of Spitamen Bank’s program on financial literacy.  

We will recall that Spitamen Bank joined the financial literacy program in early June this year.  

This program is being implemented in the country by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) under support of the Swiss Government (SECO) and in partnership with financial institutions.

The agreement was signed in early June this year.  Under the agreement, Spitamen Bank will conduct various activities aimed at improving the financial literacy of the population.

According to Spitamen Bank, the agreement is reportedly part of an overall program in order to improve the financial literacy of the population, which is launched in the spring of 2016 and which includes three main areas: 1) increase the level of financial literacy of the adult population; 2) increase the level of financial literacy of students; and 3) increase the level of financial literacy of high school students.

Research on financial literacy in Tajikistan carried out by IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, reportedly revealed that more than 40 percent of respondents spend all their total income, while only half make regular savings.  In addition, more than 80 percent do not know basic banking terms, about 90 percent had never heard about the credit bureau.

The financial literacy program includes educational materials on household budgets and personal finance management, smart borrowing rules, preventing over-indebtedness, savings strategies, managing remittances, and the benefits of credit information reporting.

The initiative to implement financial literacy program is part of the World Bank Group Finance and Markets Global Practice’s Azerbaijan and Central Asia Financial Markets Infrastructure Project. The project is funded by the Government of Switzerland.