Kyrgyzstan’s debt to China stands at $1.4 billion, Deputy Finance Minister Umutzhan Amanbaev said at a meeting of the Zhogorku Kenesh Committee on Agrarian Policy, Water Resources, Subsoil Use, Ecology and Environmental Protection. The committee was discussing a report on the execution of the republican budget for 2025.

Amanbaev was responding to MP Ismanali Zhoroev, who asked why Kyrgyzstan’s debt, according to an infographic, has been growing since 2017.

«Later, it fell to 27 percent. I would like to note that until 2020, this debt amounted to as much as 90–100 percent 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 percent of the country’s budget revenues. In other words, we could repay the entire debt today without any problems, but it is better, of course, to adhere to the repayment schedule and gradually reduce the debt, which is what Kyrgyzstan is doing,» he said.

The deputy minister added that all loans are now being taken solely for development purposes and are linked to economic growth.

«Some 77 billion soms have been allocated for debt servicing, 70 percent of which is for external debt. We currently have no overdue payments. There is no need to be afraid of taking loans for the country’s development,» Amanbaev said.