According to the preliminary data from the Ministry of Finance (MoF), Tajikistan’s external debt has risen 36 million U.S. dollars in three months to March 31 this year, reaching 2.915 billion U.S. dollars.
An official source at a MoF says the debt owed by the government amounts to nearly 2.755 billion U.S. dollars, which is nearly 95 percent of a total external debt.
The government guaranteed debts reportedly amount to 65.6 million U.S. dollars and debts of state-run enterprises not secured through government guarantees amount to 31.5 million U.S. dollars.
The National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT) now owes totaling 62.2 million U.S. dollars to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), China and the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB).
China remains Tajikistan’s largest creditor. Tajikistan now reportedly owes more than 1.2 billion to the export-Import Bank of China (China Eximbank).
Besides, Tajikistan has relatively large debts to the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the Islamic Development Bank.
Despite unsettled debts, Tajikistan intends to borrow another 295.9 million USD in 2019 and 354.7 million USD in 2020.
Meanwhile, the World Bank analysts note that the loans for public investment projects (particularly from China), the issuance of domestic debt to support the energy sector (TJS 530 million), and the issuance of a US$500 million Eurobond in September 2017 are the primary drivers of the rise in Tajikistan’s external debt.
