Uzbekistan is borrowing each dollar of state debt with diligence and specific purposes in mind. This was announced today, June 3, during the meeting of the lower house of parliament by the Deputy Prime Minister, the Minister of Economy and Finance Jamshid Kuchkarov informed.
“Borrowing is not a problematic issue,”
According to Jamshid Kuchkarov, the state needs loans to perform its duties.
“Our growing economy requires a lot of funds. There are expenses related to performing state duties. For example, developing infrastructure, i.e., roads, drinking water, energy networks, and others. Additionally, ensuring the country's defense capability and border security also requires expenditures. In this case, a certain part of state expenditures is financed through external debt. Moreover, there is a housing program. Today, multi-story buildings are being constructed in all regions of the country, including the most remote districts. These are built by entrepreneurs. People are buying these houses by taking out mortgage loans. Loans are granted for a long duration. Of course, long-term debt funds from abroad are brought in to provide banks with funds. This issue is also related to our external borrowing,” said the minister.
During his speech, Jamshid Kuchkarov mentioned that as of April 1 this year, Uzbekistan's state debt amounted to 42.4 billion dollars.
According to the minister, 35.6 billion dollars of the state debt comes from external sources, and 6.9 billion dollars are from domestic sources.
“The total amount of state debt is expected to make up 33.5 percent of the projected gross domestic product for 2025. The law regarding state debt stipulates that the debt amount should not exceed 60 percent of GDP. Leadership takes each dollar of borrowing under acute scrutiny. Every dollar is rigorously checked for what and which purposes it is being borrowed for. As the gross domestic product grows, and revenues increase, the regions prosper, a certain portion of the expenses are covered by external debt. There's nothing shameful about it. There's no problematic situation either. Those who talk about increasing debt should also mention that today Uzbekistan's gross domestic product has reached 115 billion dollars,” expressed the Deputy Prime Minister.
According to calculations, the state debt of Uzbekistan increased by 2.2 billion dollars in January-March of 2025.
According to the Ministry of Economy and Finance, 19.3 billion dollars or 54 percent of the foreign debt was provided by international financial institutions. In this, the largest creditors were the World Bank (7.74 billion dollars) and the Asian Development Bank (7.44 billion dollars).
Foreign governments' financial institutions have allocated a total of 10.6 billion dollars in loans (30 percent of the total sum). Among these, the largest debt came from China Development Bank and China Exim Bank (3.6 billion dollars). Also, the Japan International Cooperation Agency has directed a comparatively large amount of loans (3.1 billion dollars).
Foreign investors have lent money to the country by purchasing 5.66 billion dollars' worth of international bonds.
According to the report, 16.8 billion dollars (47 percent) of foreign state debt was directed to support the budget. Additionally, loan funds were more significantly spent in the following sectors:
- agriculture and water management 6 billion dollars;
- fuel and energy industry 5.9 billion dollars;
- electric power 3.9 billion dollars;
- housing and communal services 2.9 billion dollars;
- transport and transport infrastructure 2.8 billion dollars;
- health care, education, information and communication technologies, and other sectors 2.5 billion dollars;
- oil and gas 1.7 billion dollars.
Overall, it is apparent that the largest amount of debt funds is being spent on the fuel and energy sectors.
