[{"bbox": [86, 152, 263, 175], "category": "Section-header", "text": "2 RATIONALE"}, {"bbox": [100, 207, 235, 230], "category": "Section-header", "text": "2.1 Context"}, {"bbox": [97, 260, 1133, 367], "category": "Text", "text": "Tajikistan is in a crucial period in its political and socio-economic development – as it is highly exposed to external security and stability challenges, stemming from the regional developments related to Islamic radicalisation and extremism, unresolved situation in Afghanistan (including refugee issues), border conflict with Kyrgyzstan and its geopolitical and economic dependency from Russia."}, {"bbox": [97, 379, 1133, 512], "category": "Text", "text": "**Political:** The country relies on Russia for its defence. Security risks have increased following the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan. The Government of Tajikistan does not have a full control over the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region, which borders Afghanistan and the volatile Xinjiang autonomous region in China, and is a hub for cross-border drug smuggling. Meanwhile, Tajikistan is amongst the world's most remittance dependent economies (around 30 percent of GDP) mostly from Tajik migrants in Russia."}, {"bbox": [97, 523, 1133, 683], "category": "Text", "text": "**Economic:** The global and regional political developments affect the overall economic stance in Tajikistan. Russia's war against Ukraine has a major impact in Tajikistan, affecting the financial sector, including greater exchange rate volatility, disruptions in international transfer payments, and problems in bank transactions. The global supply-chain disruptions, increase in world prices for energy resources and essential products, deterioration in interbank relations, a decline in trade and production, and a weaker Tajik somoni have made imports more expensive for Tajikistan."}, {"bbox": [97, 695, 1133, 828], "category": "Text", "text": "**Financial:** Tajikistan's debt was assessed as sustainable by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in February 2022², but there is a high risk of debt distress in the context of limited fiscal space, and due to the further effect of the global crises. The risks are related to the following: a high risk of sovereign default, due to international reserves covering only about a third of total public debt; risk of greater revenue shortfalls (implementation of the new tax code and tax exemptions may result in lower tax revenues); credit risk and drop in remittances."}, {"bbox": [97, 840, 1133, 1000], "category": "Text", "text": "**Education:** General secondary education in the Republic of Tajikistan is a priority for the Government in terms of both geographical coverage and resource allocation. The Government has developed an Anti-Crisis Action Plan and has established an Interdepartmental task force to prevent the impact of potential risks on the economy. President Rahmon has requested budget support from development partners, including the EU, in order to minimise the negative impact of potential risks on the national economy and the implementation of anti-crisis measures in an expedited manner."}, {"bbox": [97, 1012, 1133, 1199], "category": "Text", "text": "The Action is in line with National Development Strategy (NDS) of the Republic of Tajikistan for the period up to 2030³. NDS-2030 also takes into consideration the Republic of Tajikistan's international commitments on the Agenda of the XXI century and SDGs, with a particular focus on SDGs linked to the Sustainable human development. The ultimate goal of the long-term development of Tajikistan is to improve the standards of living of population based on sustainable economic development: create conditions for decent and productive employment, including the employment of vulnerable stratum of population and reduce inequalities in society are a priority."}, {"bbox": [97, 1210, 1133, 1397], "category": "Text", "text": "The Action is in line with the EU's Multi-Annual Indicative Programme for Tajikistan 2021-2027, notably the Priority Area 1: Inclusive Green and Digital Economy (including implications of the EU Green Deal) and Priority Area 2: Human Development. It is expected to contribute to spending targets 'Create a business environment conducive to the development of MSMEs and innovation, in selected sectors, with a particular focus on green economy and digitalisation' (Industry - DAC code 321) and 'Improve the relevance and the quality of the general secondary education and the vocational education and training for better employability and labour market integration of Tajik women and men' (Education - DAC code 110 and Emergency Response - DAC code 720)."}, {"bbox": [97, 1407, 1133, 1541], "category": "Text", "text": "The Action is in line with the policy priorities of the New European Consensus on Development – PEOPLE (education) and PROSPERITY (revenue) – and the EU Strategy for Central Asia 2019. The Consensus commits to responding to the educational needs of children and youth thereby stimulating responsible citizenship, developing sustainable and prosperous societies and boosting youth employment. The Strategy aims to support inter and intra-regional cooperation to build capacity and to increase the quality of education – including higher"}, {"bbox": [86, 1579, 1142, 1622], "category": "Footnote", "text": "² https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2022/02/18/pr2244-the-republic-of-tajikistan-imf-executive-board-concludes-2021-article-iv-consultation"}, {"bbox": [86, 1623, 1055, 1646], "category": "Footnote", "text": "³ Agency on Statistics under President of the Republic of Tajikistan, National development strategy: https://www.stat.tj/en/targets"}, {"bbox": [1038, 1681, 1143, 1705], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 5 of 36"}]