BAKU, Azerbaijan, Dec. 27
By Fakhri Vakilov-Trend:
The volume of the total external debt of Uzbekistan as of October 1, 2019, amounted to $21.5 billion, showing an increase of $4.2 billion (24 percent) compared to the beginning of 2019, Trend reports referring to the Central Bank of Uzbekistan.
Over nine months, public external debt has increased sharply and it is expected that the growth trend will continue until the end of this year. This is explained by the attraction of new external borrowings to finance state programs for the development of economic sectors and regions, the bank said.
The increase in debt during January-September was mainly due to the public sector ($3.7 billion), of which $1 billion was international bonds. Private sector debt increased by $494.4 million as a result of increased borrowing by banks and other sectors of the economy.
For the first 9 months of 2019, the private sector attracted loans totaling $1.6 billion. Borrowing was mainly carried out by banks ($1 billion), oil and gas and energy companies ($207.4 million), textile enterprises ($81.6 million) and enterprises in other sectors of the economy ($291.8 million).
Moreover, over the period under review, the repayment of the main debt and interest was carried out in the amount of $345.8 million and $207.6 million, respectively, on state external debt.
Payments on private external debt amounted to $1.1 billion in principal and $231 million in interest. At the same time, enterprises in the oil and gas, energy, and banking sectors continue to make the largest volume of payments, both in terms of principal and interest.
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