BAKU, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22
By Maryana Akhmedova – Trend:
The state debt of Georgia as of September 30, 2021, amounted to 28.9 billion Georgian lari ($9.2 billion), Trend reports via the statistical data from the Ministry of Finance of Georgia.
Georgia's external debt in the reporting period of 2021 accounted for 81 percent of the total debt and totaled 23.4 billion Georgian lari ($7.5 billion).
According to the Ministry of Finance of Georgia, most of it comes from loans received from donors and partners for infrastructure projects.
At the same time, the majority of the state's loans are long-term. The average weighted loan term is 20.8 years, while the average weighted interest on the loan is 0.97 percent. Georgia has about 9 years left to repay loans, the report said.
The Ministry of Finance explains that since 55 percent of the external public debt consists of loans with a fixed interest rate, this protects loan repayments from fluctuations and ensures that spending on loans remains low.
According to the report, 22 percent of the external debt is denominated in SDR (special drawing rights) due to the large shares of the World Bank, the IMF, and the Asian Development Bank.
Georgia spent 2.6 million Georgian lari ($836 million) over the three quarters of 2021 to cover the external debt, of which 216,800 Georgian lari ($69,700) were interest payments, and the rest went to cover the main part of the debt.
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