Uzbekistan's external debt goes up by $17 billion

As of January 1, 2019, total external debt of Uzbekistan amounted to $17.3 billion, an increase of 9.5% ($1.5 billion), compared with January of last year, it follows from the report of the Central Bank.

Total external debt includes debt provided by parent companies and excludes accruals but unpaid interests.

The state external debt consists of the debt raised by the state and the debt received under state guarantee. It amounted to $10 billion (58%), an increase of $2.4 billion over the year.

Private external debt consists of foreign borrowing of companies that include state-owned enterprises that are not guaranteed by the state. It amounted to $7.2 billion (42%), having decreased over the year by $977 million.

The bulk of private foreign debt comes from the oil and gas, energy sectors ($5.3 billion or 75%).

“In 2018, there was an accelerated growth rate of public sector external debt compared with previous periods, and the current growth trend is expected to continue next year. This phenomenon is explained by the attraction of new foreign borrowings to finance state development programs,” the report says.

In 2018, $1.3 billion were paid on private external debt, $366.6 million – for interests, and on foreign public debt – $397 million and $151.3 million respectively.

Significant repayment of the main debt of the private sector is in the oil and gas, energy sectors ($862.2 million), as well as the banking ($192.8 million) and telecommunications sectors ($149 million).

Oil, gas and energy enterprises paid interests of $296.7 million, while interest payments of the banking sector amounted to $42.6 million.

Earlier, it was reported that as of October 1, 2018, external debt amounted to $16.4 billion.