DUSHANBE, July 28, 2008, Asia-Plus  -- Over the first six months of this year, Tajikistan''s foreign debt has grown by $132.13 million, reaching 28.59 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), Temourali Afghonov, the head of the department for management of state debt and financial assets within the Ministry of Finance (MoF), told Asia-Plus on Monday.   

The debt increased from US$1.1199 billion on January 1, 2008 to US$1.252 billion as of July 1, 2008, with the government’s direct debt estimated at more than US$1.159 billion or 26.47 percent of GDP, Afghonov said.   

Debts on loans attracted by Tajikistan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and being serviced by the National bank of Tajikistan for maintaining payment balance have amounted to US$46.36 million.  

Sovereign loans have exceeded $27.83 million over the report period, whereas non-sovereign loans have amounted to $20.41 million. 

The MoF official attributed the debt increase to long-term preferential loans received from China’s Exim (export/import) Bank, World Bank, OPEC Fund, Kuwaiti Development Fund, etc.    

We will recall that in an interview with Asia-Plus, Temourali Afghonov, the head of the department for management of state debt and financial assets within the Ministry of Finance (MoF), revealed on May 28 that Tajikistan’s external debt may rise 40 percent in the year to December 31, 2008, reaching some $1.568 billion or 35 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).  According to him, GDP is expected to stand at $4.8 billion by the end of this year, which is 20 percent more than last year’s indices.  

He noted that considerable of Tajikistan’s external debt is also bilateral debts to the Russian Federation, Uzbekistan, Turkey, the United States, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.  The country now owes 63.6 million US dollars to Uzbekistan, 15 million US dollars to Russia and $15.3 million US dollars to the United States, Afghonov said.