Tajikistan’s external debt has grown by 118 million U.S. dollars (USD) in nine months to October 1 this year, reaching nearly 2.3 billion USD, according to the Ministry of Finance (MoF) Secretariat.
As of January 1, 2016, the country’s foreign debt reportedly amounted to 2.182 billion USD.
The Secretariat says more than 2.1 billion USD in the country’s external debt structure is the direct government debt.
Government debt (also known as national debt and sovereign debt) is the debt owed by a central government. Governments usually borrow by issuing securities, government bonds and bills. Less creditworthy countries sometimes borrow directly from international financial institutions.
Government-guaranteed debts reportedly amount to some 22 million USD and debts of state-run enterprises that do not have government guarantees amount to some 31.5 million USD.
Tajikistan’s National Bank now owes 122 million to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), 10 million USD to China and 5.1 million USD to the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), according to the MoF Secretariat.
Tajikistan’s external debt-to-GDP ratio has reportedly reached 35.6 percent.
Meanwhile, the national borrowing program of Tajikistan designed for 2017-2019 that was endorsed by the country’s parliament yesterday provides for borrowing 967 million USD within the next three years.
