Russia’s lending increases, Uzbekistan's debt reaches $41.3 million

In 2023, Uzbekistan's debt to Russia increased and reached $41.3 million. This was reported today, December 11, RIA Novosti reported, citing World Bank analysis.

It is noted that official Moscow increased lending to other countries last year by more than $30 billion, which is the highest figure since 1999. Egypt, Bangladesh, and India received the most new loans. The volume of debt to Russia by other countries increased by $1.3 billion last year, amounting to $30.1 billion. This figure was last higher in 1999 ($32.8 billion).

Belarus remains the largest debtor — its debt amounts to $7.75 billion, or a quarter of all loans issued by Russia. Bangladesh is in second place with $6.6 billion (22%), and India completes the top three with $4.1 billion (14%). The top five also include Egypt ($3.3 billion, 11 percent) and Vietnam ($1.4 billion, 5 percent).

At the same time, Egypt had the largest share last year — its obligations increased by $1.45 billion. Bangladesh's debt increased by $745 million, and India's by $363 million. Uzbekistan's debt increased by $41.3 million, and Afghanistan's by $19.9 million. Obligations from Zambia, Yemen, Sri Lanka, Ecuador, Sudan, and Moldova also increased by a total of $26.54 million.

A new debtor appeared in 2023 — Nicaragua received a loan from Russia for the first time since 2003 of $16.9 million.

At the same time, the obligations of a number of countries to Russia decreased. The leader here is Somalia, which has written off almost all of its debt to Russia: if at the end of 2022, the country owed Moscow $703 million, at the end of last year it owed only $49 million. In addition, Belarus's debt decreased by $487 million, Serbia's by $117 million, Armenia's by $40 million, and Azerbaijan's by $22 million. Another 10 countries paid off their obligations to Russia for $82 million.

It should be recalled that earlier it was reported that Uzbekistan's public debt could reach $45.1 billion by the end of 2025. By the end of 2024, the volume of newly signed contracts for attracting public external debt will amount to $5 billion. Of this, $2.5 billion will be directed to investment projects, and $2.5 billion to support the budget.

In 2025, it is planned to attract about 5.5 billion dollars of state external debt. It is expected that 2.5 billion dollars of these loan funds will be used for investment projects and 3 billion dollars for budget support.