Tajikistan’s external debt grew by 26 million U.S. dollars (USD) in six months to July 1, 2017, reaching 2.3 billion USD, First Deputy Finance Minister, Jamshed Karimzoda, told a news conference in Dushanbe on July 28.
As of July 1, 2017, the country’s external debt-to-GDP ratio reached 35.8 percent, Karimzoda noted.
According to him, the national budget has allocated 84.56 million USD for servicing the external debt in January-July this year, including 166.03 million USD allocated for principal debt payments and 18.5 million USD allocated for debt interest payments.
“Over the first six months of year, we have signed eleven grant and loan agreements for implementation of nine joint investment projects to the total amount of 404.3 million USD, including 105.4 million USD provided in a form of grants and 298.9 million USD provided in a form of loans,” the deputy minister noted.
China reportedly remains Tajikistan’s largest creditor; China accounts for more than 52 percent of Tajikistan’s external debt – more than 1.2 billion U.S. dollars.
Besides, Tajikistan owes about 300 million U.S. dollars to the World Bank (WB), more than 225 million U.Ss dollars to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), about 110 million U.S. dollars to the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and more than 107 million U.S. dollars to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
As of January 1, 2017, the country’s external debt reportedly amounted to 2.2741 billion U.S. dollars.
