Kyrgyzstan paid nearly three times as much in interest on its domestic debt as it did on its foreign debt

The bulk of Kyrgyzstan’s interest expenses stems from domestic borrowing. From January through October, the country paid 19.57 billion KGS in interest on these loans—2.7 times more than on its external debt, which amounted to 7.18 billion KGS. This information was reported by the Ministry of Finance.

In total, over the ten-month period, 73.89 billion KGS from the national budget were allocated to debt payments. Of this amount, 47.03 billion KGS went toward principal repayment, and 26.75 billion KGS went toward interest. Another 105.1 million KGS consisted of other payments.

Thus, interest payments accounted for more than one-third of all debt service expenses—36.2%. Nearly three-quarters of these interest payments were attributable to domestic debt.

The structure of payments for the two types of debt differs significantly. The government paid a total of 41.7 billion KGS on external debt. The bulk of this—34.41 billion—consisted of repayments of previously borrowed funds. Interest payments accounted for about 17% of the total.

The picture is reversed for domestic debt. Of the 32.19 billion KGS in total payments, 12.62 billion went toward principal repayment, while 19.57 billion KGS went toward interest. Thus, the government spent nearly 7 billion KGS more on interest than on repaying the principal.