Tajikistan Economic Update, Spring 2017 : Strong Growth with a Challenging Outlook

Despite continuing external challenges, economic output rose strongly in 2016 according to official estimates. Driven mainly by foreign-financed public and private investment, real gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by a robust 6.9 percent. At t...

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Main Author: World Bank Group
Format: Report
Language:English
en_US
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/699491500886178530/Tajikistan-Strong-growth-with-a-challenging-outlook
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/28268
id okr-10986-28268
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-282682021-05-25T09:49:18Z Tajikistan Economic Update, Spring 2017 : Strong Growth with a Challenging Outlook World Bank Group ECONOMIC GROWTH INFLATION EXTERNAL IMBALANCE FISCAL TRENDS EXCHANGE RATES MONETARY POLICY DEBT ECONOMIC OUTLOOK FINANCIAL SECTOR CRISIS Despite continuing external challenges, economic output rose strongly in 2016 according to official estimates. Driven mainly by foreign-financed public and private investment, real gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by a robust 6.9 percent. At the same time, a protracted decline in real remittances and exchange rate depreciation in the context of an improving but still complex external environment led to a significant adjustment in the current account balance. The authorities pursued expansionary fiscal policies in 2016, including through a considerable increase in foreign-financed capital investment in the energy sector, road infrastructure, and projects related to the country’s 25th anniversary of independence. The government also stimulated domestic demand by raising public sector wages and social transfers. Monetary policy was accommodative, supporting a heightened demand for local currency as the exchange rate stabilized and wholesale transactions that were previously conducted in foreign currency switched to local currency. Materialized risk in the financial sector and the subsequent bailout of Tajikistan’s two largest banks at end-2016 resulted in a deterioration of fiscal and debt sustainability indicators. Lingering challenges in the financial sector, high state-owned enterprise (SOE) contingent liability risk, and an unconducive business climate weigh on economic growth prospects. A weaker-than-expected recovery in regional economies or delays in the expansion of the targeted social assistance (TSA) program can derail poverty reduction efforts. Continuing challenges in accessing credit by pro-poor sectors of the economy will diminish the pace of both poverty reduction and job creation in low-skilled sectors like construction and agriculture. 2017-09-08T21:20:03Z 2017-09-08T21:20:03Z 2017-06 Report http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/699491500886178530/Tajikistan-Strong-growth-with-a-challenging-outlook http://hdl.handle.net/10986/28268 English en_US CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Economic & Sector Work :: Economic Updates and Modeling Economic & Sector Work Europe and Central Asia Tajikistan
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
en_US
topic ECONOMIC GROWTH
INFLATION
EXTERNAL IMBALANCE
FISCAL TRENDS
EXCHANGE RATES
MONETARY POLICY
DEBT
ECONOMIC OUTLOOK
FINANCIAL SECTOR
CRISIS
spellingShingle ECONOMIC GROWTH
INFLATION
EXTERNAL IMBALANCE
FISCAL TRENDS
EXCHANGE RATES
MONETARY POLICY
DEBT
ECONOMIC OUTLOOK
FINANCIAL SECTOR
CRISIS
World Bank Group
Tajikistan Economic Update, Spring 2017 : Strong Growth with a Challenging Outlook
geographic_facet Europe and Central Asia
Tajikistan
description Despite continuing external challenges, economic output rose strongly in 2016 according to official estimates. Driven mainly by foreign-financed public and private investment, real gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by a robust 6.9 percent. At the same time, a protracted decline in real remittances and exchange rate depreciation in the context of an improving but still complex external environment led to a significant adjustment in the current account balance. The authorities pursued expansionary fiscal policies in 2016, including through a considerable increase in foreign-financed capital investment in the energy sector, road infrastructure, and projects related to the country’s 25th anniversary of independence. The government also stimulated domestic demand by raising public sector wages and social transfers. Monetary policy was accommodative, supporting a heightened demand for local currency as the exchange rate stabilized and wholesale transactions that were previously conducted in foreign currency switched to local currency. Materialized risk in the financial sector and the subsequent bailout of Tajikistan’s two largest banks at end-2016 resulted in a deterioration of fiscal and debt sustainability indicators. Lingering challenges in the financial sector, high state-owned enterprise (SOE) contingent liability risk, and an unconducive business climate weigh on economic growth prospects. A weaker-than-expected recovery in regional economies or delays in the expansion of the targeted social assistance (TSA) program can derail poverty reduction efforts. Continuing challenges in accessing credit by pro-poor sectors of the economy will diminish the pace of both poverty reduction and job creation in low-skilled sectors like construction and agriculture.
format Report
author World Bank Group
author_facet World Bank Group
author_sort World Bank Group
title Tajikistan Economic Update, Spring 2017 : Strong Growth with a Challenging Outlook
title_short Tajikistan Economic Update, Spring 2017 : Strong Growth with a Challenging Outlook
title_full Tajikistan Economic Update, Spring 2017 : Strong Growth with a Challenging Outlook
title_fullStr Tajikistan Economic Update, Spring 2017 : Strong Growth with a Challenging Outlook
title_full_unstemmed Tajikistan Economic Update, Spring 2017 : Strong Growth with a Challenging Outlook
title_sort tajikistan economic update, spring 2017 : strong growth with a challenging outlook
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2017
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/699491500886178530/Tajikistan-Strong-growth-with-a-challenging-outlook
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/28268
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