Tajikistan - Economic sectors

In 2000, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Tajikistan registered a real GDP of US$1.1 billion. To find an estimate of its per capita income, GDP is divided by the estimated population of 6.6 million, arriving at a per capita GDP of a mere US$167 per year—

Communications
Country	Newspapers	Radios	TV Sets a	Cable subscribers a	Mobile Phones a	Fax Machines a	Personal Computers a	Internet Hosts b	Internet Users b
	1996	1997	1998	1998	1998	1998	1998	1999	1999
Tajikistan	20	142	285	N/A	0	0.3	N/A	0.24	2
United States	215	2,146	847	244.3	256	78.4	458.6	1,508.77	74,100
Russia	105	418	420	78.5	5	0.4	40.6	13.06	2,700
Kyrgyzstan	15	112	45	N/A	0	N/A	N/A	4.13	10
a Data are from International Telecommunication Union, World Telecommunication Development Report 1999 and are per 1,000 people.
b Data are from the Internet Software Consortium ( http://www.isc.org ) and are per 10,000 people.
SOURCE: World Bank. World Development Indicators 2000.

one of the lowest among East European and former Soviet republics. The economy of Tajikistan is heavily reliant on the export of 2 commodities—aluminum and cotton—and is highly susceptible to trade fluctuations. Trials of independence, a destructive civil war, and deteriorating terms of trade have combined to significantly reduce the capacity of the country to produce cotton and aluminum at levels comparable to pre-independence times. Furthermore, in 1998, due to stagnating world prices of both resources, a wide trade deficit of US$145 million and an equally large negative current account balance of US$107 million were incurred. Donor inflows, pri-

marily from the United States and the European Union, and loans from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), have helped moderate the current account deficit. However, foreign direct investment (FDI) in Tajikistan has been low, averaging only US$22 million per year between 1994 and 1998.