Uzbekistan will take a conservative approach in building up public debt, the First Deputy Finance Minister Timur Ishmetov said on Tuesday.

“Foreign borrowing should be within certain limits in order to maintain our conservative approach to building up public debt,” he told reporters. 

According to last year’s report of the Central Bank, the total external debt of Uzbekistan as of January 1, 2019 amounted to $17.3 billion (an increase of 9.5% compared to 2018), and the trend towards an increase in foreign loans will only continue. As of April 1, 2019, total external debt amounted to $19.1 billion. Domestic debt is virtually nonexistent.  

The increase in debt in the first quarter of 2019 was mainly attributable to the public sector - $1.7 billion (of which $1 billion amounted to international bonds).

Private sector debt increased by $121.3 million as a result of increased borrowing by banks and other sectors of the economy.
 
In turn, the head of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) Jin Liqun urged the country’s authorities not to be afraid to take a lot of loans.