Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) — Uzbekistan’s public and publicly guaranteed external debt reached US$48.46 billion at the end of 2025, exceeding Kazakhstan’s US$46.41 billion. However, Kazakhstan remained the region’s largest borrower in terms of total external debt, with US$183.1 billion compared with US$88.03 billion for Uzbekistan, according to the World Bank’s International Debt Report 2026.
The difference is largely attributable to private-sector borrowing. Kazakh companies without government guarantees owe foreign creditors US$115 billion, while their Uzbek counterparts owe US$32.84 billion. Public debt accounts for around a quarter of Kazakhstan’s total external debt, compared with more than half in Uzbekistan.
The five Central Asian countries together owed foreign creditors approximately US$293.7 billion, up from around US$189.6 billion in 2015. The increase of approximately 72% over the decade was driven by Uzbekistan, whose external debt grew 6.5 times. Kyrgyzstan’s debt rose from US$7.72 billion to US$12.53 billion, Tajikistan’s from US$5.15 billion to US$7.15 billion, and Kazakhstan’s from US$156.15 billion to US$183.1 billion. Turkmenistan moved in the opposite direction, reducing its external debt from US$7 billion to US$2.85 billion.
In 2025, Uzbekistan recorded the fastest annual increase in external debt, at 24.7%. Kazakhstan’s debt grew by 10.3%, Kyrgyzstan’s by 4.8% and Tajikistan’s by 1.8%. Turkmenistan reduced its external debt by 14.1%.
Relative to the size of their economies, Kazakhstan had the highest debt burden, with external debt equivalent to 64% of gross national income. The ratio stood at 60% in Uzbekistan, 56% in Kyrgyzstan, 29% in Tajikistan and 6% in Turkmenistan.
Per capita, external debt amounted to approximately US$8,800 for each resident of Kazakhstan, around US$2,400 in Uzbekistan, US$1,700 in Kyrgyzstan, US$660 in Tajikistan and US$375 in Turkmenistan.
Kazakhstan also faced the heaviest debt-service burden relative to exports. In 2025, the country spent 64% of its export earnings on servicing external debt. The figure was 29% in Uzbekistan, 28% in Kyrgyzstan and 8% in Tajikistan. Kyrgyzstan’s ratio nearly tripled compared with 2024, while Uzbekistan’s declined by 18.6%. The report does not provide export-related debt-service figures for Turkmenistan.
China remained the largest bilateral creditor for four countries in the region. Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan were the most dependent on Chinese financing: US$1.5 billion of Kyrgyzstan’s US$1.9 billion in debt to foreign governments was owed to China, while the corresponding figures for Tajikistan were US$738 million out of US$894 million. Uzbekistan owed China US$3.85 billion and Kazakhstan US$1.95 billion. Turkmenistan’s largest bilateral creditor was Japan, to which it owed US$674 million.
The composition of multilateral creditors varied across the region. Uzbekistan’s largest multilateral creditor was the Asian Development Bank, with US$8.36 billion in outstanding debt. Kazakhstan owed the most to the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, at US$3.63 billion. Kyrgyzstan’s largest multilateral creditor was the International Development Association, with US$930 million, while Turkmenistan owed US$811 million to the Islamic Development Bank.
Kazakhstan relied most heavily on market-based borrowing. Of its US$46.41 billion in public and publicly guaranteed debt, US$33.22 billion was owed to private creditors. The corresponding amounts were US$15.11 billion for Uzbekistan, US$700 million for Kyrgyzstan, US$357 million for Tajikistan and US$240 million for Turkmenistan.
The terms of new borrowing also varied. In 2025, official creditors offered Kyrgyzstan the lowest interest rates, at an average of 1.2% annually with a 28-year maturity. Kazakhstan borrowed from official creditors at 1.9%, Turkmenistan at 2.8%, Uzbekistan at 3.4% and Tajikistan at 5.6%.
Among private creditors, Kazakhstan borrowed at an average rate of 4.9%, Kyrgyzstan at 7.8% and Uzbekistan at 8.6%. Tajikistan and Turkmenistan did not obtain new loans from private creditors in 2025.
