According to data from the State Committee on Investment and State-owned Property Management (GosKomInvest), Tajikistan’s investment portfolio now includes 70 projects totaling about 40 billion somonis (equivalent to more than 3.5 billion U.S. dollars).
“Loans account for 50 percent in the structure of these projects, grants – more than 45 percent, and the rest is contribution of the Tajik government,” a source within GosKomInvest told Asia-Plus in an interview.
These projects are reportedly dedicated to rehabilitating and developing transportation system, energy sector, housing and utilities sector, agrarian sector, as well as health, education, social protection and public management sectors.
Meanwhile, despite a considerable amount of debts accumulated, the Tajik government is not going to discontinue the practice of foreign borrowing, and is planning to borrow a total of US$1.16 billion, including US$452.9 million to be borrowed in 2021, US$459.7 million to be borrowed in 2022 and US$246.8 million to be borrowed in 2023.
These funds are planned to be borrowed mostly from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and the World Bank.
The other investing financial institutions are the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the Export–Import Bank of China (Chexim – China Exim Bank), the Eurasian Development Bank, the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD), the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED), etc.
The Ministry of Finance says that as of October 1, 2020, Tajikistan’s external debt has amounted to US$3.163 billion, or 36.9 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). Over the first nine months of the last year, US$149.2 million had been spent for servicing foreign debt.
The Ministry of Finance (MoF) stated that it had earmarked 2.3 billion somonis (equivalent to 202 million U.S. dollars) for servicing foreign debt in 2021. Of that total, 1.5 billion somonis is reportedly reserved for repayment of principal, with the rest going toward covering interest.
Meanwhile, Eurasianet reported on January 4 that Tajikistan has latterly crossed a troubling psychological threshold by having its external public debt reach 43 percent of GDP, thereby surpassing the 40 percent many international economists deem sustainable for developing economies.
