Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22
By Ali Mustafayev – Trend:
Kazakhstan’s external debt has amounted to $167.9 billion as of July 2017.
The external debt of the public sector made up 7.9 percent ($13.2 billion) of the total debt, the external debt of the banking sector made up 3.7 percent ($6.2 billion), the debt of other sectors not related to direct investment amounted to 25.2 percent ($42.4 billion), and the inter-company debt constituted 63.2 percent ($106.1 billion), said to the Deputy Chairman of the National Bank of Kazakhstan Alpysbai Akhmetov.
“The external debt of the public sector increased by $0.4 billion, mainly due to the growth in the value of sovereign Eurobonds issued on the international capital markets. External liabilities of banks (second-tier banks and Development Bank of Kazakhstan JSC) decreased by $1.0 billion, due to the planned repayment of Eurobonds and operating external loans, Kazakh media reported.
Inter-company debt, in turn, increased by $1.8 billion, mainly due to financing of oil and gas projects and an increase in debt to direct investors.
The growth of GDP and exports of goods and services contributes to the improvement of the parameters of external debt. The ratio of external debt to GDP as of July 1, 2017 was 112.4 percent compared to 119.3 percent at the beginning of the year.
Kazakhstan's net foreign debt increased by $3.1 billion in the first half of 2017.