This is $140 million more than at the beginning of this year.

The government of Tajikistan predicts an increase in the volume of the country's external debt in the coming year by $140 million.

The Program of State External Borrowings of the Republic for 2022 and the forecast of their indicators for 2023-2024 say that an increase in the volume of external debt is expected from $3.96 billion as of January 1, 2023 to $4.1 billion for the same period in 2024.

At the same time, the authors of the document predict a decrease in the ratio of external debt to GDP - from 41.6% to 40.9%, respectively. This prospect is associated with expectations of GDP growth from $9.53 billion in 2022 to $10.04 billion in 2023.

This year, the government plans to disburse loans in the amount of more than $300 million, and servicing external debt at the expense of the budget is expected to be about $253 million.

The main external creditor of Tajikistan remains the Chinese Export-Import Bank, to which the republic owes more than $1 billion. Debts to the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, International Monetary Fund, Islamic Development Bank, Eurobond debts remain high.

International financial institutions have repeatedly recommended the government of Tajikistan to refrain from attracting loans without benefits.