Total external debt of Uzbekistan as of October 1, 2019 amounted to $21.5 billion, $5.1 billion more compared to the same period last year, Spot writes referring to the Central Bank.

“Over the 9 months of 2019, public external debt increased sharply and it is expected that the growth trend will continue until the end of this year,” the regulator said.

This is due to the attraction of new external borrowings to finance state programs for the development of industries and regions.

External debt includes public and private loans. In 2013 - 2017, both of them grew, but in 2018 private debt began to decline, as it was time to return money to enterprises in the oil and gas as well as energy industries.

In January-September 2019, private sector debt began to grow again mainly due to the growth of bank borrowing.

The main part of the debt falls to the public sector - $13.8 billion. Private sector debt amounted to $7.7 billion.