Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb.15
By Nigar Guliyeva - Trend:
Kazakhstan's foreign debt amounted to $168.9 billion as of Oct.1, increasing by $1 billion in the third quarter of 2017, the National Bank of Kazakhstan said in a message on Feb.15.
The ratio of external debt to GDP was 108.9 percent, having improved by 3.5 percent over the period.
Some 62 percent accounted to intercompany debt, 26 percent - foreign debt of "Other sectors" to unrelated creditors, 8 percent - state external debt (the Government and the National Bank), 4 percent - external liabilities of the sector "Banks" (second ties banks and JSC Kazakhstan Development Bank).
Over the third quarter of 2017, external debt mainly grew due to the placement of 10-year Eurobond issue with a total volume of $750 million by KazTransGas JSC; increase in indebtedness of residents on commercial loans (increase by $204.8 million); accrual of coupon interest on the current Eurobond issues (an increase of $185.7 million).
The external debt of state-controlled entities as of October 1, 2017 was $26.4 billion (an increase of $1.2 billion in the third quarter of 2017).
Kazakhstan's external debt over the past 10 years increased by $74.6 billion, amounting to $168.9 billion as of Oct. 1, 2017.
The growth of external debt was due to an increase in intercompany debt (an increase of $76.7 billion), related mainly to the implementation of oil and gas projects by branches of foreign companies in the country.
There was also an increase in the external debt of the non-financial sector of the economy (an increase of $26.2 billion) and the government (an increase of $10.8 billion), due to the issue of Eurobonds and the attraction of loans and borrowings.
The external liabilities of the National Bank remained practically unchanged, averaging 0.6 percent of the country's external debt.
The external debt of the financial sector decreased by $ 39.1 billion, mainly due to a reduction in the debt of the banking sector (including JSC Kazakhstan Development Bank) for loans and borrowings by $37.4 billion.