There is much political unrest in Tajikistan, as inhabitants gathered on June 18th in front of the government building in Khorog in protest of government militarism and the rising cost of food. Inhabitants believe there is increasing interference from the government, and not enough subsidized provisions for the locals.

Severe winter weather in Tajikistan has caused a tremendous shortage in energy and gas and an increase in the prices of food and gasoline. With temperatures below -20 degrees Celsius, Tajikistan is always dependent on its neighbors to provide electricity during long winter months, but they have not had enough this year. The weather could also lead to greater unemployment and dismal wages.

Tajikistan must repay loans to the International Monetary Fund as a result of the inaccurate data provided by the Tajik National Bank. The IMF is expecting to be repaid $47.4 million by September 5, 2008.

The Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) will receive USD79 million in loans from the Asian Development Bank for Regional Road Corridor Improvement Project, a project which seeks to improve important roads. The project links the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan to The People’s Republic of China and will improve 263 kilometers of the road. The roads are key to the landlocked Tajikistan and Kyrgyz Republic and will allow trade with the People’s Republic of China as well as provide numerous other connections as it becomes part of the major Asian highway network.

Tajikistan will receive funding from the Asian Development Bank and Japan to restore infrastructure destroyed in a 2006 flood. The Japan fund for poverty reduction is providing USD2 million to be managed by the ADB. Several communities in northeast Tajikistan were isolated after the flood destroyed a suspension bridge. The project to restore access to the cut-off communities will cost an estimated USD2.369 million.

Tajiks remain pessimistic about the winter despite the fact that Tajikistan officials have signed an agreement to bring Turkmen electricity to Tajikistan in order to prevent power shortages. Currently, electricity distribution is in place allowing households to receive a mere six to eight hours of electricity a day. Tajikistan reportedly could produce over 300 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity due to its massive amount of hydroelectric power capacity. Tajikistan officials say they have a bright future and they are working to develop and improve it's energy-producing infrastructure. Due to the failure of a similar deal with Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan residents are not hopeful about their cold, dark winter.

Tajik state-run power company Barqi Tojik considers the possibility of cutting short energy supply for domestic recipients during the winter months to ensure supply for neighboring Afghanistan. The company is worried about loosing Afghanistan as customer if they are not capable of perpetuating the 10 megawatts supply. Afghanistan remunerates the company with 2 US cents per kilowatt-hour, whereas Tajik customers only pay 0.68 US cents.

The Tajik Government had unilaterally canceled an agreement with the Russian company RusAl on the construction of the Roghun hydroelectric power plant, stating that "the fate of such a strategically important facility for the country" should not lie in the hands of only one private company. According to Tajikistan's President Imomali Rahmon, the Russian Government had been notified about this decision a year ago already.

In what has become a yearly tradition, an order from the local authorities to the schools and universities in the southern Khatlon region of Tajikistan have been required to send all students above ninth grade to pick cotton to help expedite the harvest. According to Asia-Plus, some schools send students pick cotton every day after contracting schooldays, whereas other schools actually relocate their students to temporary shelters in cotton fields. Yet, students are not alone in their agrarian labor, teachers and faculty members of state institutions will join the students in the fields to ensure a productive harvest. Cotton is Tajikistan’s largest cash crop and a major export.

According to data from the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast or Province (GBAO) Statistical Agency, the population growth rate of Tajikistan’s largest geographical province is exhibiting a downward tendency. Surayo Mamadnazarova, an official at the GBAO agency of for statistics revealed that the growth rate drop in population was first observable in the mid-1990s. In 1995, 5,181 newborns were registered in the region, in 2000, the number plummeted to 3,506, whereas last year only 3, 255 newborns were registered. It is by no coincidence that the Tajik civil war that was unleashed in 1992 has played a role in attributing to this drop, especially when one considers that the GBAO was the province that saw much warfare as the mountainous region became a bastion for the insurgent opposition.