DUSHANBE, July 17, 2010, Asia-Plus  -- According to the preliminary data, Tajikistan’s foreign debt stood at 1.7729 billion U.S. dollars as of July 1, 2010, the source at the Ministry of Finance (MoF) said.

According to him, long-term preferential loans from international financial institutions form the bulk of the country’s foreign debt – 831.7 million U.S. dollars.  US$373.5 million has been borrowed from the World Bank and US$315.5 million has been borrowed from the Asian Development Bank.

China remains Tajikistan’s largest creditor as US$655.22 million has been borrowed from China’s Exim (export/import) Bank for enhancement of the energy and transportation sectors

This year, the national budget has earmarked US$60.2 million for servicing foreign debt: US$32 million will go to repaying the principal and US$28 million will go to paying interest on the debt, the source added.

We will recall that as of January 1, 2010, Tajikistan’s foreign debt stood at 1.6913 billion U.S. dollars.  122.7 million U.S. dollars were allocated from the country’s budget last year for servicing the government’s direct debt: more than US$93 million and some US$30 million were for principal and interest payments respectively.