Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The state debt of Uzbekistan, attracted under state guarantees in foreign and domestic markets, as of 1 April 2021 made up US$23.2 billion or 40.1% of GDP. This was reported by the Ministry of Finance of Uzbekistan.

Compared to the beginning of 2021, Uzbekistan’s public debt decreased by US$133.7 million, or 0.3 percentage points of Uzbekistan’s GDP.

Uzbekistan’s external debt is US$21 billion or 36.3 percent of GDP. The volume of the country’s external debt decreased by US$73.6 million, or 0.2 percentage points of GDP. Of this amount, US$14.9 billion (decreased by US$126.2 million) - debt raised on behalf of the government, US$6.1 billion (increased by US$52.6 million) - under the guarantee of Uzbekistan.

Domestic debt as of 1 April 2021 amounted to US$2.2 billion (3.8 percent of GDP), which is US$60.1 million less compared to the same period of 2020.

In particular, Uzbekistan’s debt to the Asian Development Bank is US$5 billion, the World Bank - US$3.8 billion, the China Export-Import Bank - US$2 billion, the Japan International Cooperation Agency - US$1.9 billion, the Chinese State Development Bank and others - US$2 billion, the Islamic Development Bank - US$0.9 billion and other international financial institutions - US$2.3 billion

According to the Ministry of Finance, 70.4% of Uzbekistan’s external debts were attracted in US dollars, 11% in Japanese yen, 9.5% in SDRs, 5% in euros and 4.1% in other currencies.

In the reporting period, Uzbekistan allocated US$4.4 billion to support the budget (20.8% of the funds raised).

At the same time, 14.5% of the attracted funds (US$3 billion) were directed to the development of the electric power industry, 12.6% (US$2.6 billion) - to the development of the energy sector, 11.3% (US$2.4 billion) - to the development of transport infrastructure and 9 , 4% (US$2 billion) for the development of the housing and utilities sector.

Another US$1.3 billion was directed to the banking sector, US$1.1 billion to the chemical industry, US$0.7 billion to education, and US$0.2 billion to telecommunications.

In the first quarter of 2021, Uzbekistan allocated US$300.3 million to service external debts: US$200.1 million in debt and US$100.2 million in interest on attracted loans. At the same time, US$67.4 million has been allocated from the state budget to service debts.

In particular, Uzbekistan sent US$215.8 million to service its internal debt: US$177.3 million in debt and US$38.5 million in interest.