DUSHANBE (Asia-Plus) – For the first four months of this year, inflation in Tajikistan has stood at 2.2%, National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT) announced. The government expects the year-end inflation to stand at 7.5% percent in 2015.

Last year, inflation reportedly stood at 7.4%, 0.1% lower than it was originally forecasted.

Last month, prices of goods and prices and rates for services rendered to the population rose on average 0.7% which is 0.1% lower than in March but 0.6% higher than in February and 0.1% higher than in January.

In Central Asia, the highest average inflation rate last year was recorded in Uzbekistan – 7.0%. In Turkmenistan, inflation last year stood at 6.0%, Kazakhstan 4.5%, and Kyrgyzstan 4.0%. In Tajikistan, the year-end inflation stood at 3.7% percent in 2013 and had the lowest inflation rate among Central Asia’s countries.

However, ADB is more pessimistic and predicts that inflation will likely accelerate in 2015 to 10.0% or more as currency depreciation raises the prices of imported consumer goods. A more stable currency and some recovery in remittances would allow inflation to ease back to 6.5%–7.0% in 2016.