By October 1, 2018, the total external debt of Uzbekistan became $ 16.4 billion, an increase of 4.2% ($ 664.3 million) compared with the beginning of the year, the Central Bank stated.
Total external debt includes the debt provided by parent companies and excludes accrued but unpaid interest.
The state external debt consists of the debt raised by the state and the debt received under the state guarantee. It amounted to $ 8.7 billion (53%).
Private external debt consists of foreign borrowing of companies that include state-owned enterprises not guaranteed by the state. It amounted to $ 7.7 billion (47%). This includes borrowings from the parent companies, which amounted to $ 1.1 billion (15%).
The bulk of private foreign debt falls on the oil and gas, energy sectors ($ 5.6 billion or 73%).
“The growth of debt for January-September 2018 falls on the public sector ($ 1.1 billion), while the debt of the private sector decreased by $ 466.2 million. Thus, public external debt maintained a growth trend due to the attraction of new loans for funding projects,” the report said.
For the first nine months of the year, the main debt was paid in the amount of $ 962.6 million and $ 225.9 million in interest on the private external debt. In the public external debt – $ 303.7 million and $ 122.8 million respectively.
At the same time, a significant amount of repayment of the private sector’s main debt falls on the oil and gas, energy sectors ($ 645.8 million), as well as banking ($ 151.4 million) and telecommunications ($ 118.8 million). Enterprises of oil and gas, energy sectors paid interest at $ 187.4 million.
