"The foreign debt has accrued from soft, long-term loans disbursed to the republic," Safarali Nazhmiddinov told a press conference in the capital, Dushanbe. "These loans meet the state's interests, and are aimed at [stimulating] its economic growth."
The post-Soviet nation now owes a total of $830 million to foreign creditors, including $510 million to international finance organizations such as the World Bank ($307 million), the Asian Development Bank ($100 million) and the Islamic Development Bank ($41 million).
Loans from creditor nations account for 28% of the total debt. The largest creditors include Uzbekistan ($82 million), Russia ($36 million) and Turkey ($12 million).
Nazhmiddinov said Tajikistan will be able to service and repay its debt in due course and that some $40 million in budget money is to be allocated for the purpose before the end of the year.
Negotiations are currently underway to reschedule the country's debt to Turkey and Kazakhstan, he said.
Tajikistan's 2007 budget will be about $1 billion, with revenues projected at $944 million and expenditures at $973.45 million, Nazhmiddinov said. Social spending will account for 49% of budget allocations, with 15.5% earmarked for public education alone.
GDP is expected to grow at an annual 7.5% ($3 billion), while the inflation rate is anticipated at 7%.
Reviewing the execution of this year's budget, Nazhmiddinov said revenues surpassed the target by more than 4% in January-September, while overall spending came to 93.2% of prospective allocations.
