The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has passed a $50 million grant to help the Government of Tajikistan mitigate the adverse economic and social effects of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The ABS program Building Resilience with Active Countercyclical Expenditures (BRACE) will help finance the government’s anti-crisis action plan, which aims to expand social assistance for the poor and vulnerable, support domestic food production, safeguard small businesses and support employment for returning migrants.
“As a relatively small, open, oil-importing economy, Tajikistan has been hit hard by the consequences of the war,” said ADB Director General for Central and West Asia Yevgeniy Zhukov.
“ADB’s support will help mitigate the impact of rising food and oil prices and declining remittances, which are slowing growth and increasing unemployment and poverty.”
With the support of ADB, 250,000 poor and vulnerable households will benefit from one-time cash transfers of 600 somoni ($59) per household.
$1.5 billion from ADB to promote food security in Pakistan
“The food security measures supported by the program will help small farmers increase production,” said ADB Senior Financial Sector Specialist Syed Ali-Mumtaz H. Shah.
“The government will also procure and store food to ensure an adequate supply of agricultural and food products.”
To support business and employment, returning migrants will get vocational training for their requalification.
For his part, ADB Chief Economist Muhammadi Boboev added that “the program will provide concessional loans through two state-owned banks for small and medium-sized enterprises engaged in the agricultural, service, and commercial sectors.”
“This will support businesses affected by the crisis, including those owned by women, to help them get back on their feet and also maintain employment.”
The grant is funded by the Asian Development Fund, which provides grants to the poorest and most vulnerable member countries of the ADB. ADB will also provide $400,000 in technical assistance to improve the government’s capacity to implement the program and strengthen its monitoring and evaluation system.
Since Tajikistan joined the ADB in 1998, the bank has become the country’s largest multilateral development partner, with more than $2.5 billion in aid, including more than $1.8 billion in grants.
The ADB’s partnership strategy with Tajikistan for 2021-2025 focuses on three strategic priorities: structural reforms to improve resource allocation and mobilization, improve labor productivity through human capital development, and foster better livelihoods by investing in the economy. tied to the earth.
