Foreign investment in Tajikistan’s economy last year amounted to 426 million U.S. dollars, Saadi Qodirzoda, the head of the State Committee on Investment and State-owned Property Management (GosKomInvest), told reporters in Dushanbe on February 16.
According to him, investments mostly came from China — more than 150 million U.S. dollars, Saudi Arabia — 39 million U.S. dollars, and the Philippines — 38 million U.S. dollars.
Foreign investment refers to the investment in domestic companies and assets of another country by a foreign investor.
GosKomInvest head stressed that of a total amount of foreign investment, 162 million U.S. dollars had been provided in a form of foreign direct investment (FDI).
Compared to 2019 foreign direct investment into Tajikistan last year reportedly fell by 47 percent.
A foreign direct investment (FDI) is an investment in the form of a controlling ownership in a business in one country by an entity based in another country. It is thus distinguished from a foreign portfolio investment by a notion of direct control.
Referring to international financial institutions, Qodirzoda noted that global FDI last year fell by 42 percent. This year, global FDI is expected to fell by 5-10 percent, GosKomInvest head noted.
Meanwhile, the UNCTAD report says global FDI collapsed in 2020, falling by 42 percent to an estimated 859 billion U.S. dollars, from 1.5 trillion U.S. dollars in 2019.
According to data from GosKomInvest, 70 state investment projects in a total amount of more than 3.5 billion U.S. dollars are currently being implemented in Tajikistan. .
Loans reportedly account for about 50 percent in the structure of these projects, grants – more than 45 percent, and the rest is contribution of the Tajik government.
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 562 million U.S. dollars this year, 459.7 million U.S. dollars in 2022, and 246.8 million U.S. dollars in 2023. .
