Economy - overview:
Tajikistan has one of the lowest per capita GDPs among the 15 former Soviet republics. Only 6% of the land area is arable; cotton is the most important crop. Mineral resources, varied but limited in amount, include silver, gold, uranium, and tungsten. Industry consists only of a large aluminum plant, hydropower facilities, and small obsolete factories mostly in light industry and food processing. The civil war (1992-97) severely damaged the already weak economic infrastructure and caused a sharp decline in industrial and agricultural production. Even though 64% of its people continue to live in abject poverty, Tajikistan has experienced steady economic growth since 1997, but experienced a slight drop in its growth rate to 8% in 2005 from 10.6% in 2004. Continued privatization of medium and large state-owned enterprises would further increase productivity. Tajikistan's economic situation, however, remains fragile due to uneven implementation of structural reforms, weak governance, widespread unemployment, and the external debt burden. A debt restructuring agreement was reached with Russia in December 2002, including a $250 million write-off of Tajikistan's $300 million debt to Russia. Tajikistan ranks third in the world in terms of water resources per head. A proposed investment to finish the hydropower dams Rogun and Sangtuda would substantially add to electricity production. If finished, Rogun will be the world's tallest dam.

GDP (purchasing power parity):
$8.826 billion (2005 est.)

GDP (official exchange rate):
$1.943 billion (2005 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
8% (2005 est.)

GDP - per capita (PPP):
$1,200 (2005 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 24%
industry: 21%
services: 55% (2005 est.)

Labor force:
3.7 million (2003)

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture: 67.2%
industry: 7.5%
services: 25.3% (2000 est.)

Unemployment rate:
12% (2004 est.)

Population below poverty line:
64% (2004 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 3.2%
highest 10%: 25.2% (1998)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:
34.7 (1998)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
8% (2005 est.)

Investment (gross fixed):
19.1% of GDP (2005 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $442.3 million
expenditures: $542.6 million; including capital expenditures of $86 million (2005 est.)

Agriculture - products:
cotton, grain, fruits, grapes, vegetables; cattle, sheep, goats

Industries:
aluminum, zinc, lead; chemicals and fertilizers, cement, vegetable oil, metal-cutting machine tools, refrigerators and freezers

Industrial production growth rate:
8.2% (2002 est.)

Electricity - production:
16.5 billion kWh (2004)

Electricity - consumption:
15.05 billion kWh (2003)

Electricity - exports:
3.874 billion kWh (2003)

Electricity - imports:
4.81 billion kWh (2004)

Oil - production:
354.8 bbl/day (2003 est.)

Oil - consumption:
25,000 bbl/day (2003 est.)

Oil - exports:
NA bbl/day

Oil - imports:
NA bbl/day

Natural gas - production:
30 million cu m (2004 est.)

Natural gas - consumption:
1.4 billion cu m (2004 est.)

Natural gas - exports:
0 cu m (2004 est.)

Natural gas - imports:
1.4 billion cu m (2004 est.)

Current account balance:
-$92 million (2005 est.)

Exports:
$950 million f.o.b. (2005 est.)

Exports - commodities:
aluminum, electricity, cotton, fruits, vegetable oil, textiles

Exports - partners:
Netherlands 41.4%, Turkey 15.3%, Uzbekistan 7.2%, Latvia 7.1%, Switzerland 6.9%, Russia 6.6% (2004)

Imports:
$1.25 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.)

Imports - commodities:
electricity, petroleum products, aluminum oxide, machinery and equipment, foodstuffs

Imports - partners:
Russia 20.2%, Uzbekistan 14.2%, Kazakhstan 12.8%, Azerbaijan 7.2%, US 6.7%, China 4.8%, Ukraine 4.5% (2004)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
$195 million (2005 est.)

Debt - external:
$888 million (2004 est.)

Economic aid - recipient:
$67 million from US (2005)

Currency (code):
somoni

Exchange rates:
Tajikistani somoni per US dollar - 3.1166 (2005), 2.9705 (2004), 3.0614 (2003), 2.7641 (2002), 2.3722 (2001)