Tajikistan’s draft budget for 2017 projects expenditure of about 1.1 billion somoni (equivalent to about 140 million U.S. dollars) for payment of external debt, according to the Ministry of Finance (MoF) Secretariat.
At the same time, the Ministry of Finance proposes the Government to draw more than 1.7 billion somoni (equivalent to more than 215 million U.S. dollars) of international loans next year.
Recall that in a report released at a news conference in Dushanbe, Tajik Finance Minister Abdusalom Qurboniyon noted on July 29, 2016 that Tajikistan’s external debt-to-GDP ratio has reached 35.9 percent.
“As of June 30, 2016, Tajikistan’s external debt amounted to 2.276 billion U.S. dollars, which is equivalent to 35.9 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP),” the minister said.
Qurboniyon attributed increase in the external debt to implementation of a number of loan agreements.
As of December 31, 2015, Tajikistan’s external debt amounted to little more than 2.194 billion U.S. dollars and external debt-to-GDP ratio stood at 27.0 percent.
Increase in the external debt-to-GDP ratio has reportedly resulted from the devaluation of the national currency, the somoni.
Meanwhile, Tajikistan’s internal debt or domestic debt has reached 2.8 billion somoni by July 1, 2016.
As of December 31, 2015, the country’s internal debt amounted to 2.57 billion somoni and internal debt-to-GDP ratio reportedly stood at 5.3 percent of GDP
