DUSHANBE, 11.02.2021 (NIAT Khovar) – The National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT) notes the stable growth of the economy and gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020, which reached 82.5 billion somoni, and its real growth was 4.5%.

“The GDP growth last year was ensured by an increase in industrial production by 9.7% and agricultural production by 8.8%,” said NBT’s Chairman Hokim Kholikzoda at a press conference yesterday.

Meanwhile, the inflation rate last year was 9.4%, an increase of 1.4 percentage points compared to 2019.

Kholikzoda associates the increase in inflation with price increases: 13% for food commodities, 5.8% for non-food goods and 4.0% of the cost of paid services to the population.

According to him, the structure of food prices for the year mainly recorded changes in prices for imported and seasonal essential goods, such as first-grade flour (16%), sugar (40.8%), cottonseed oil (50.7%) and others.

The reason for increase in prices is the impact of external factors in connection with the coronavirus pandemic and the introduction against this background of restrictions on the transportation of goods across the borders of trading partner countries.