Uzbekistan’s external debt may reach $15 billion by the end of the year, finance minister Jamshid Kuchkarov said at the plenary session of the Senate.

“At the end of 2019, it is expected that the state foreign debt of Uzbekistan will increase by 1.5 times. The reason is raising funds for the implementation of large projects. Debt will increase from $9.9 billion at the beginning of the year to $15 billion by January 1,” the minister said. 

As of October 1, the government’s external debt has already reached $13.5 billion. According to Kuchkarov, about half of the indebtedness in the debt structure is accounted for by international financial institutions.

“The biggest lender is the Asian Development Bank. At the end of the year, we forecast Uzbekistan’s debt at the level of $3.6 billion, the World Bank is in the 2nd place - $2.7 billion. Among the states, the largest creditor is China, Japan - the 2nd, Germany - the 3rd,” Kuchkarov said.

Earlier, it was reported that as of July 1, 2019, the total external debt of Uzbekistan amounted to $20.7 billion, an increase of $3.4 billion (20%) compared to the beginning of the year. It consists of government ($13.2 billion) and the private sector ($7.5 billion) debt.

An increase in debt in the first half was mainly attributable to the public sector ($3.1 billion), of which $1 billion was accounted for by international bonds. Private sector debt increased by $330.3 million as a result of increased borrowing by banks and other sectors of the economy.