DUSHANBE, February 3, 2014, Asia-Plus -- As of January 1, 2014, Tajikistan’s external debt amounted to 2.1615 billion U.S. dollars, Minister of Finance, Abdusalom Qurbonov, told journalists in Dushanbe on February 3.

On the debt-to-GDP ratio, which is one of indicators of the health of an economy, Qurbonov noted that last year’s Tajikistan public debt-to-GDP ratio was 25.4 percent.

“Government’s direct debt now amounts to 1.9552 billion U.S. dollars and is equivalent to 23 percent of gross domestic product (GDP),” the minister said.

Last year, the national budget earmarked 95.4 million U.S. dollars for repayment of the principal debt and 30 million U.S. dollars for repayment of debt interest.

The national budget for 2014 projects 686.9 million somoni for the external debt service: 520.2 million somoni for principal debt payments and 169.7 million somoni for debt interest payments.