Tajikistan’s external debt grew by 79.9 million U.S. dollars (USD) in a year to December 31, 2016, reaching 2.3 billion USD, First Deputy Finance Minister, Jamshed Karimzoda, told a news conference in Dushanbe on January 27.  

As of January 1, 2017, the country’s external debt-to-GDP ratio reached 32.7 percent, Karimzoda noted. 

According to him, the national budget last year allocated 158 million U.S. dollars for the external debt service, including 125 million U.S. dollars for principal debt payments and 33 million U.S. dollars for debt interest payments.

“This year, we plan to attract more than 1.7 billion somoni (equivalent to more than 215 million USD) in foreign loans,” Karimzoda added.   

Meanwhile, China remains Tajikistan’s largest creditor.  According to some data, Tajikistan now owes almost more than 1 billion U.S. dollars to China.

Recall, President Emomali Rahmon noted in his address to both houses of the parliament on January 20, 2016 that the ratio between Tajikistan’s external debt and its gross domestic product (GDP) rose 5.4 percent in a year to December 31, 2015, reaching 27.9 percent.   

According to him, the country’s GDP rose 6 percent in a year to December 31, 2015, reaching more than 48 billion somoni.