Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The public debt of Uzbekistan as of 1 July 2022 amounted to US$26 billion, or 35.1% of gross domestic product (GDP). This was reported by the Ministry of Finance of Uzbekistan.

According to the Ministry of Finance, the public debt of Uzbekistan decreased by US$300 million compared to the same period in 2021. At the same time, public debt to GDP decreased from 38% at the end of 2021 to 35.1% in the first half of 2022.

The state external debt amounted to US$23.3 billion (31.4% of GDP) and domestic debt - US$2.8 billion (3.7% of GDP).

In the first half of 2022, Uzbekistan signed agreements on attracting external loans in the amount of US$1.6 billion, and issued government securities - 2 trillion soums. At the same time, the debt attracted on behalf of the government is US$1.6 billion.

The Ministry of Finance notes that the state domestic debt increased by US$41.4 million and amounted to US$2.8 billion. The volume of government securities is 5 trillion soums and domestic debt guaranteed by the state - US$2.3 billion.

The external debt of Uzbekistan decreased by US$302.9 million in the reporting period to US$23.3 billion, which is 31.4% of GDP.

The volume of external debt attracted on behalf of the government of Uzbekistan made up US$16.9 billion, which is 72.8% of the total public debt of Uzbekistan. The amount of funds raised under government guarantees reached US$6.4 billion (27.2%).

The amount of funds from international financial organizations attracted by Uzbekistan is US$11.2 billion (48.1% of Uzbekistan’s external debt).

In particular, Uzbekistan’s debt to the Asian Development Bank is US$5.4 billion, the World Bank - US$4.4 billion, the China Export-Import Bank - US$1.9 billion, the Japan International Cooperation Agency - US$1.8 billion, the China State Bank development and others - US$2.2 billion, the Islamic Development Bank - US$1 billion and other international financial institutions - US$2.7 billion

According to the Ministry of Finance, 74.1% of Uzbekistan’s external debts are attracted in US dollars, 8.7% - in Japanese yens, 8.1% - in SDRs, 4.3% - in euros, 1.9% - in soums and 2 .9% - in other currencies.

Uzbekistan in the reporting period sent US$6 billion to support the budget (25.8% of the funds raised).

At the same time, 11.8% of the funds raised (US$2.7 billion) were directed to the development of the electric power industry, 12.8% (US$3 billion) to the development of the energy sector, 10.6% (US$2.5 billion) to the development of transport infrastructure and 10 .4% (US$2.4 billion) for the development of agriculture and water management. Uzbekistan has allocated 2.2 billion (9.5%) for the development of housing and communal services.

Another US$1.4 billion was directed to the banking sector, US$1.1 billion to the chemical industry, US$0.8 billion to education and medicine, US$0.2 billion to telecommunications.

In the first half of 2022, Uzbekistan sent US$699.6 million to service external debts: US$438.5 million of debt and US$261.1 million - interest on attracted loans. At the same time, US$596.6 million was allocated from the state budget for debt servicing.

Uzbekistan also sent US$422.5 million to service domestic debt: US$359.6 million of debt and US$62.9 million of interest.