The National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT) expects to receive a concessional loan from the International Monetary Fund before the end of this year as part of the Extended Credit Facility program, NBT First Deputy Head, Jamoliddin Nouraliyev, told reporters in Dushanbe on July 22.

According to him, negotiations on attracting loans from IMF have resumed in the frameworks of Extended Credit Facility program.  

“IMF mission is planned to arrive in Tajikistan in September this year and this issue will be discussed during a meeting with the mission,” Nouraliyev said.  

He expressed hope that the loan will be provided to Tajikistan before the end of this year.  

“If it does not work out in these terms, then no later than the first quarter of the next year,” Tajik financial official noted.  

Nouraliyev had earlier noted that many of the Fund's preconditions had already been met, and they are currently discussing the issue of resumption of the Extended Credit Facility program.

The IMF loan, extended under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility, supported the Tajik authorities’ economic program for 2009-12 and more than 160 million U.S. dolalrs were reportedly provided to Tajikistan in a form of the concessional loan. 

The Extended Credit Facility (ECF) provides financial assistance to countries with protracted balance of payments problems. The ECF was created under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT) as part of a broader reform to make the Fund’s financial support more flexible and better tailored to the diverse needs of low-income countries (LICs), including in times of crisis. The ECF is the Fund’s main tool for providing medium-term support to LICs.