<hdr>The World Factbook 1994: Tajikistan<nl>Economy</hdr><body>
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<item><hi format=bold>Overview:</hi> Tajikistan had the lowest per capita GDP in the former USSR, the highest rate of population growth, and the lowest standard of living. Its economy at the start of 1994 is producing at roughly the 1989 level and faces urgent reconstruction tasks from the 1992 civil war. Tajikistan's economy was severely disrupted by the breakup of the Soviet economy, which provided guaranteed trade relations and heavy subsidies and in which specialized tasks were assigned to each republic. Its economy is highly agricultural (43% of the work force); it has specialized in growing cotton for export and must import a large share of its food. Its industry (14% of the work force) produces aluminum, hydropower, machinery, and household appliances. Nearly all petroleum products must be imported. Constant political turmoil and continued dominance of former Communist officials have slowed the process of economic reform and brought near economic collapse while limiting foreign assistance. Tajikistan is in the midst of a prolonged monetary crisis in which it is attempting to continue to use the Russian ruble as its currency while its neighbors have switched to new independent currencies; Russia is unwilling to advance sufficient rubles without attaching stringent reform conditions.
<item><hi format=bold>National product:</hi> GDP—purchasing power equivalent—$6.9 billion (1993 estimate from the UN International Comparison Program, as extended to 1991 and published in the World Bank's World Development Report 1993; and as extrapolated to 1993 using official Tajik statistics, which are very uncertain because of major economic changes since 1990)
<item><hi format=bold>National product real growth rate:</hi> -21% (1993 est.)
<item><hi format=bold>National product per capita:</hi> $1,180 (1993 est.)
<item><hi format=bold>Inflation rate (consumer prices):</hi> 38% per month (1993 average)
<item><hi format=bold>Unemployment rate:</hi> 1.1% includes only officially registered unemployed; also large numbers of underemployed workers and unregistered unemployed people
<item><hi format=bold>Budget:</hi>
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<item>• <hi format=ital>revenues:</hi> $NA
<item>• <hi format=ital>expenditures:</hi> $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA
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<item><hi format=bold>Exports:</hi> $263 million to outside the FSU countries (1993)
<item><hi format=bold>Illicit drugs:</hi> illicit cultivation of cannabis and opium poppy; mostly for CIS consumption; limited government eradication programs; used as transshipment points for illicit drugs from Southwest Asia to Western Europe and North America
<item><hi format=bold>Economic aid:</hi>
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<item>• <hi format=ital>recipient:</hi> Russia reportedly provided substantial general assistance throughout 1993 and continues to provide assistance in 1994; Western aid and credits promised through the end of 1993 were $700 million but disbursements were only $104 million; large scale development loans await IMF approval of a reform and stabilization plan
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<item><hi format=bold>Currency:</hi> 1 ruble (R)=100 kopeks; acquiring new Russian rubles as currency under December 1993 agreement
<item><hi format=bold>Exchange rates:</hi> NA
<item><hi format=bold>Fiscal year:</hi> calendar year
