Tajikistan triples minimum wage

The minimum monthly wage in Tajikistan -- one of the poorest countries of the former Soviet Union -- has been tripled to the equivalent of just over one US dollar.

It's the first time in more than two years that the authorities have raised the minimum salary.

Some pensions have also been increased and the government says salaries for health workers and teachers will go up in April.

Some eighty percent of Tajiks are estimated to live in poverty; the average monthly wage is about ten dollars.

Tajikistan is struggling to overcome the effects of a five-year civil war and last year a devastating drought compounded the country's difficulties.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service