Currently, the country is receiving 2 million cubic meters of natural gas, instead of 3 million cubic meters of natural gas daily, the agreement on which was reached between the two countries at the end of last year, he said.

Muhsiddinov said that two large companies, the Barq-i Tojik [Tajik Electricity] open joint-stock holding company and the Tajiktsement [Tajik cement] state unitary enterprise were the main debtors of the Tojikgaz at the moment. They owe US$5 million and US$2.5 million respectively, Tajik news agency Asia-Plus reported.

"If these companies would pay their debts for the gas consumption on time, the Tajik people would be fully provided with gas today," he said.

Since the beginning of the year, the country has already received 50 million cubic meters of gas out of 650 million cubic meters [of gas] which Tajikistan bought from Uzbekistan for 2008.