Tajikistan to Become First Country to Access ACF Resources
Moscow, 18 June 2010. The Council of the EurAsEC Anti-crisis Fund (ACF) approved the first application for aid from the Fund. At its session in St. Petersburg on Friday, the ACF Council (comprising the finance ministers of its member states Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Armenia) resolved to provide a stabilisation loan of $70 million to Tajikistan at a fixed rate of 1% per annum for twenty years.
This resolution was adopted after considering an opinion on Tajikistan’s application prepared by the EDB in its capacity as ACF Manager. In its opinion the Bank commented that the application is fully in line with the ACF’s purpose and the terms of financing set forth in the ACF Agreement.
The main objective of this loan is to enable Tajikistan to maintain government funding of the social sector (education, health and social security) at the planned level.
The opinion also states that, bearing in mind Tajikistan’s low financial standing, reduced tax revenue and a lack of finance for funding key sectors such as health, education or social security, the loan will come as a timely aid for the country’s post-crisis recovery.
The Bank also recommended that the loan amount should be big enough to finance these sectors at least at the actual pre-crisis level, and to support reforms in public finance management and civil service announces in Tajikistan’s Anti-crisis Programme.
Igor Finogenov, Chairman of the EDB Executive Board, commented that “in its opinion the EDB has recommended that the ACF Council plan medium-term support to Tajikistan, and divide the country’s quota of $170 million into approximately equal portions disbursable over three years. According to medium-term forecasts, Tajikistan’s need for budgetary aid, which was fairly big in 2010, is likely to persist or even increase in the next few years”.
Igor Finogenov also said that “the EDB as ACF Manager has recommended reserving 30-40% of Tajikistan’s quota for co-operation in innovations development within the EurAsEC framework, since large investment projects are a strategic priority for the ACF”.
The ACF Council requested the EDB to negotiate and sign a loan agreement with Tajikistan in accordance with approved financial terms.