Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- As of 1 July 2018, total external debt of Uzbekistan totaled US$15.78 billion, the Central Bank of Uzbekistan said.

As of 1 July 2018, the state external debt of Uzbekistan was US$8.08 billion and private external debt was US$7.7 billion.

At the same time, the volume of private external debt in the oil and gas and energy sectors is US$5.74 billion, the telecommunications sector - US$763.9 million, and the banking sector - US$649.3 million.

The Central Bank noted that 86% of Uzbekistan’s external debt (US$13.51 billion) falls on loans for more than 10 years and 7% for 5-10 years (US$1.1 billion).

At the same time, the aggregate external debt of Uzbekistan, as compared to the beginning of 2018, increased by 0.02% or by US$3.4 million.

The growth of debt for the first half of 2018 falls on the public sector (US$479.2 million). The debt of the private sector decreased by US$475.8 million.

Thus, the state foreign debt kept the growth trend by attracting new borrowings to finance state projects.

It should be noted that in the first half of 2018, the private sector attracted loans totaling US$298.6 million.

Borrowing was mainly carried out by banks - US$176.6 million, of which US$110.6 million was provided by banks with a state share, enterprises of the textile industry - US$24.3 million and enterprises of other sectors of the economy - US$63.9 million.

Also in the first half of 2018, the principal debt was paid for a total of US$686.3 million and interest for US$176.6 million.

At the same time, a significant amount of repayment of the main debt falls on the oil and gas and energy sectors (US$446.5 million), as well as banking (US$107.9 million) and telecommunications (US$103.8 million).

Enterprises of oil and gas and energy sector paid interest for US$148.8 million.