LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR TBILISI ... - LED

Population: 7,320,815 (July 2006 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 37.9% (male 1,396,349/female 1,375,168)
15-64 years: 57.4% (male 2,091,476/female 2,108,889)
65 years and over: 4.8% (male 154,162/female 194,771) (2006 est.)
GDP
GDP - purchasing power parity - 8.53 billion USD
GDP - official exchange rate - 2.326 billion USD
GDP - per capita (PPP) - 1,260 USD
population below poverty line - 64 %
Budget – gov. (2005)
Revenues: 442.3 million USD
Expenditures: 542.6 million USD
Inflation rate 7,1 %
Unemployment rate 12% (2005)
Provinces (viloyatho, singular - viloyat) and 1 autonomous province* (viloyati mukhtor);
Viloyati Khatlon (Qurghonteppa), Viloyati Mukhtori Kuhistoni Badakhshon* [Gorno-
Badakhshan] (Khorugh), Viloyati Sughd (Khujand) note: the administrative center name
follows in parentheses.
Macroeconomic overviews
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.