Dushanbe, October 11, 2011 – Today the National Bank of Tajikistan with the support of the World Bank and the Financial Sector Reform and Strengthening (FIRST) Initiative has held a workshop on remittances to disseminate the finding of an assessment conducted by the World Bank. The workshop was held at the National Bank of Tajikistan and was attended by Government representatives, representatives of the National Bank of Tajikistan and commercial banks, Payment Networks, Association of Banks, local microfinance organizations, and others.
Based on the CPSS-World Bank General Principles for International Remittances, an assessment was conducted for the market for international remittances in Tajikistan by the World Bank and the FIRST Initiative at the request of the National Bank of Tajikistan. The assessment includes recommendations that could lead to safer and more efficient remittance transfer services for migrants and their families. Migrant remittances represent a potentially large source of savings and investment that can lead to greater benefits for migrants as well as spurring economic development in the country. For this reason, the workshop considered policy options to increase deposits of remittances into the formal financial sector while also improving access to services in rural areas by migrants,
This workshop was designed to disseminate the findings and recommendations from the assessment to all relevant stakeholders from the government as well as the private sector. The workshop is also a means to obtain feedback from the stakeholders, which will be then used for the development of an action plan for implementation of reforms leading to a safer and a more efficient environment for international remittances in Tajikistan.
According to the World Bank’s Migration and Remittances Factbook 2011, Tajikistan was the top country destination worldwide for recorded migrant remittance inflows as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2009, receiving recorded remittances equivalent to 35 percent of GDP. Migrant remittance inflows are an important source of foreign exchange for Tajikistan. Officially recorded remittance flows to Tajikistan were estimated at US$2.1 billion in 2010, according to data compiled by the National Bank of Tajikistan, up from US$1.8 billion in 2009, but below the record US$2.7 billion (equivalent to 49% of GDP) recorded in 2008, before the onset of the global economic slowdown.
