Tajikistan has experienced three changes of government since it gained independence in September 1991. The current president, Emomali RAHMONOV, was elected in November 1994, yet has been in power since 1992. The country is suffering through its third year of a civil conflict, with no clear end in sight. Underlying the conflict are deeply rooted regional and clan-based animosities that pit a government consisting of people primarily from the Kulob (Kulyab), Khujand (Leninabad), and Hisor (Hissar) regions against a secular and Islamic-led opposition from the Gharm, Gorno-Badakhshan, and Qurghonteppa (Kurgan-Tyube) regions. Government and opposition representatives have held periodic rounds of UN-mediated peace talks and agreed in September 1994 to a cease-fire which has been periodically extended. Russian-led peacekeeping troops are deployed throughout the country, and Russian-commanded border guards are stationed along the Tajik-Afghan border.
Economy
Economic overview:
Tajikistan had the next-to-lowest per capita GDP in the former USSR, the highest rate of population growth, and an extremely low standard of living. Agriculture dominates the economy, with cotton being the most important crop. Mineral resources, varied but limited in amount, include silver, gold, uranium, and tungsten. Industry is limited to a large aluminum plant, hydropower facilities, and small obsolete factories mostly in light industry and food processing. The Tajik economy has been gravely weakened by four years of civil conflict and by the loss of subsidies and markets for its products, which has left Tajikistan dependent on Russia and Uzbekistan and on international humanitarian assistance for much of its basic subsistence needs. Moreover, constant political turmoil and the continued dominance by former communist officials have impeded the introduction of meaningful economic reforms. The regime has made only halfhearted efforts to stabilize the economy and promote reform.
GDP:
purchasing power parity - $6.4 billion (1995 estimate as extrapolated from World Bank estimate for 1994)
GDP real growth rate:
-12.4% (1995 est.)
GDP per capita:
$1,040 (1995 est.)
GDP composition by sector:
agriculture:
NA%
industry:
NA%
services:
NA%
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
28% monthly average (1995 est.)
Labor force:
1.95 million (1992)
by occupation:
agriculture and forestry 43%, government and services 24%, industry 14%, trade and communications 11%, construction 8% (1990)
Unemployment rate:
3.3% includes only officially registered unemployed; also large numbers of underemployed workers and unregistered unemployed people (December 1995)
Budget:
revenues:
$NA
expenditures:
$NA, including capital expenditures of $NA
Industries:
aluminum, zinc, lead, chemicals and fertilizers, cement, vegetable oil, metal-cutting machine tools, refrigerators and freezers
Industrial production growth rate:
-5% (1995)
Electricity:
capacity:
3,800,000 kW
production:
14.8 billion kWh
consumption per capita:
2,400 kWh (1995)
Agriculture:
cotton, grain, fruits, grapes, vegetables; cattle, sheep, goats
Illicit drugs:
illicit cultivation of cannabis and opium poppy; mostly for CIS consumption; used as transshipment point for illicit drugs from Southwest Asia to Western Europe and North America
Exports:
$707 million (1995)
commodities:
cotton, aluminum, fruits, vegetable oil, textiles
partners:
Russia, Kazakstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan
Imports:
$690 million (1995)
commodities:
fuel, chemicals, machinery and transport equipment, textiles, foodstuffs
partners:
Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakstan
External debt:
$635 million (of which $250 million to Russia) (1995 est.)
Economic aid:
recipient:
ODA, $22 million (1993)
note:
commitments, $885 million (disbursements $115 million) (1992-95)
Currency:
introduced its own currency, the Tajik ruble, in May 1995
Exchange rates:
Tajik rubles per US$1 - 284 (January 1996)
Fiscal year:
calendar year
