Tajikistan has formally terminated an agreement with Kazakhstan on the mutual convertibility and stabilization of exchange rates between the Kazakh tenge and the now-defunct Tajik ruble.
The agreement was signed more than 26 years ago, had long ceased to be relevant and was no longer being applied.
The Tajik government adopted a resolution on July 30, 2026, instructing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to notify Kazakhstan of the decision. A government resolution of March 14, 2000, which had approved the agreement, was also declared invalid.
The original agreement was signed in Dushanbe on December 16, 1999. It was intended to facilitate settlements between the two countries and ensure the mutual convertibility of the Tajik ruble and the Kazakh tenge.
Under the agreement, the central banks of Tajikistan and Kazakhstan were to regularly exchange information on official exchange rates. If there was no supply or demand for either currency on the domestic foreign exchange market, its rate was to be calculated using a cross-rate against the US dollar.
Companies from the two countries were also allowed to settle transactions in Tajik rubles, Kazakh tenge or third-country currencies. The parties could independently determine the currency, prices and form of settlement by mutual agreement.
The two countries also planned to harmonize rules governing the import and export of cash and to develop exchange operations involving their national currencies.
Agreement became obsolete within a year
The agreement quickly lost its practical relevance.
On October 30, 2000, less than a year after it was signed, Tajikistan introduced the somoni as its new national currency, replacing the Tajik ruble.
Kazakhstan moved to terminate the same agreement much earlier, on May 22, 2024.
At the time, the National Bank of Kazakhstan said the agreement had become obsolete. Both countries had already developed the necessary legal framework for foreign exchange operations, the measures envisaged by the document had been implemented, and the Tajik ruble mentioned in it had ceased to exist years earlier.
Tajikistan’s latest decision is therefore largely a formal step completing the withdrawal from an outdated agreement after Kazakhstan had already done so.
The decision does not affect the exchange rate between the somoni and the tenge. The National Bank of Kazakhstan continues to publish an official exchange rate for the Tajik somoni against the tenge.
What was the Tajik ruble?
The Tajik ruble was the national currency of Tajikistan from May 10, 1995, until October 29, 2000.
Although it was formally divided into 100 tanga, no coins or banknotes denominated in tanga were issued. The currency existed only in banknote form, with denominations of up to 1,000 rubles.
On October 30, 2000, the somoni replaced the ruble at a rate of 1 somoni to 1,000 Tajik rubles. Ruble banknotes remained in circulation during a transitional period until April 1, 2001.
