DUSHANBE, October 27, 2008, Asia-Plus  - Speaking to reporters in Dushanbe on October 24, the head of the State Committee for Investments and State-owned Property (GosComInvest) Farrukh Hamraliyev said that Tajikistan’s state investment portfolio now contains 53 projects for a total amount of 5.1 billion somoni (equivalent to some US$1.5 billion).  

According to him, loan funds account for some 75 percent of the country’s investment portfolio, grants account for 13.5 percent and Tajikistan’s contribution is 11.7 percent.   

The GosComInvest head noted that those funds have gone to promoting development of 17 branches of the country’s economy.  “Over the first nine months of this year, 1.26 billion somoni of the state investment portfolio has been spent,” Hamraliyev said.  

 He further added that that a total amount of foreign direct investments (FDIs) attracted over the report period has been 1.76 billion somoni, which is 1.1 billion more than in the same period of last year.  “These figures are evidence of the fact that the government has taken efforts to attract FDIs, refraining from further borrowings,” the GosComInvest head noted.  

We will recall that in a report released at press conference in Dushanbe, Finance Minister Safarali Najmuddinov revealed on October 23 that Tajikistan external debt currently amounts to more than US$1.3 billion.