Last year, Tajikistan spent more than 176.5 million U.S. dollars for payment of principal debt and debt interest, according to the Ministry of Finance (MoF).
An official source at a MoF says more than 138.9 million USD were spent to pay the principal debt and more than 37.5 million USD were spent for payment of debt interest.
Nearly half of this amount (81.6 million USD) has reportedly gone to paying debts to the Export-Import Bank of China (China Eximbank).
More than 24.3 million USD were paid to the World Bank, 17.5 million USD to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and 10.3 million USD to the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB).
Besides, relatively small amounts were allocated to pay debts to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), OPEC Fund International Development (OFID), the European Investment Bank, the United States, etc.
Recall, Tajikistan’s external debt reportedly rose nearly 26.1 percent in a year to December 31, 2017, reaching 2.9 billion U.S. dollars.
In a report released at a news conference in Dushanbe, the Minister of Finance Faiziddin Qahhorzoda, revealed on February 16 that the country’s external debt-to-GDP ratio reached 40.3 percent.
According to him, China remains Tajikistan’s largest creditor. Tajikistan now reportedly owes more than 1.2 billion to China Eximbank.
Tajikistan now also owes 318 million U.S. dollars to the World Bank, 278 million U.S. dollars to ADB and 112 million U.S. dollars to IsDB.
Despite unsettled debts, Tajikistan is going to borrow another 200 million U.S. dollars this year.
Tajikistan intends to borrow another nearly 850 million U.S. dollars within the coming three years under the national foreign-borrowing program projected for 2018-2020: 196.5 million U.S. dollars (USD) in 2018; 295.9 million USD in 2019; and 354.7 million USD in 2020.
