DUSHANBE, April 19, Asia-Plus - Tajikistan''s foreign debt has decreased by $76 million since the beginning of the year, Deputy Finance Minister, Shavkat Kuziyev, remarked at a briefing in Dushanbe on April 19.  

According to him, Tajikistan ’s external debt has amounted to US$818.6 million as of April 1 2006 .  Tajikistan ’s foreign debt hit 894.9 million U.S. dollars by January 1, 2006 . 

“The foreign debt of Tajikistan has decreased, first of all, due to writing off Tajikistan’s US$99 million debt to the International Monetary Fund (IMF),” said Farrukh Kuziyev, “But since Tajikistan received new loans from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), the country’s external debt has decrease only by US$76 million.”

According to him, the World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank are to date the main creditors of Tajikistan .  Loans provided by the WB and the ADB have amounted to US$309 million and US$107 million respectively.  

Nazrullo Habibulloyev, head of the national budget department of the Finance Minister, telling the news conference noted that at present 33 investment projects for a total amount of US$126 million were being realized in Tajikistan .  Tajikistan ’s share in these projects accounts for 17 percent (US$56 million), according to him.  Habibulloyev stressed that 70 percent of those investments had been provided in a form of grants.