DUSHANBE, December 24, 2008, Asia-Plus  -- Structure of Tajikistan’s external debt is relatively stable, Usmon Rahmonov, an employee with the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Dushanbe Office, said in an interview with Asia-Plus.

According to him, major part of the country''s external debt includes loans received from international financial institutions that were provided on preferential terms with grace period of 5 to 10 years at the annual rate of only 1 percent.

He considers that under the conditions of the ongoing global financial crisis these terms are very good for Tajikistan.

“Besides, as it is said in economically developed countries when your debt is small it is your problem but when it is big it is problem of those who lent money.  Having lent money to Tajikistan, donor countries and organizations will be striving for promoting development of the country’s economy in order to return their money.  It is also positive moment for Tajikistan,” Rahmonov said.

According to the State Committee for Investments and State-owned Property Management, Tajikistan’s external debt has exceeded 1.3 billion US dollars to this date.