Kyrgyzstan’s debt to China stands at $1.4 billion, Deputy Finance Minister Umutzhan Amanbaev said at a meeting of a committee of the Jogorku Kenesh (Kyrgyzstan’s parliament).
Amanbaev made the statement while discussing the report on the execution of the country’s 2025 republican budget, Caliber.Az reports via Kyrgyz media.
He was responding to a question from MP Ismanali Zhoroev about why Kyrgyzstan’s overall debt has continued to grow since 2017, according to an infographic presented during the meeting.
According to Amanbaev, Kyrgyzstan’s debt to China previously accounted for up to 40% of the country’s total debt.
“Later, it fell to 27%. I would like to note that until 2020, this debt amounted to as much as 90–100% of the country’s total budget revenues. We have now analyzed the figures for the first seven months of this year and would like to note that the debt to China accounts for only 16% of the country’s budget revenues. In other words, we could repay the entire debt today without any problems, but it is, of course, better to adhere to the repayment schedule and gradually get rid of the debt, which is what Kyrgyzstan is doing,” he said.
The deputy minister added that all loans are now being taken exclusively for development purposes and are linked to economic growth.
“77 billion soms have been allocated for debt repayment, 70% of which is for external debt. We currently have no overdue debt. There is no need to be afraid of taking loans for the country’s development,” Amanbaev noted.
By Jeyhun Aghazada
