Russian Duma ratifies protocol to write off $240 mln of Kyrgyzstan's debt
MOSCOW. Jan 19 (Interfax) - Russia's State Duma voted on Friday to ratify a protocol to an agreement between Russia and Kyrgyzstan that calls for writing off $240 million of the Central Asian country's debt.
Kyrgyzstan's debt to Russia stood at $488.9 million as of September 2012. An agreement to write off $188.9 million of debt was signed in May 2013. The remaining $300 million was supposed to be written off gradually in equal annual portions over ten years starting on March 16, 2016.
As of the end of March 2017, Kyrgyzstan's debt to Russia was $240 million. Kyrgyzstan asked Russia to write off the remaining debt all at once, arguing that the country needed to improve its debt indicators.
The protocol to the agreement to write off Kyrgyzstan's remaining debt to Russia all at once as part of the provision of official assistance for the country's development was signed during the Kyrgyz president's visit to Moscow on June 20, 2017.
"As a result of such write-off, the amount of Kyrgyzstan's state foreign debt will decrease by 6.5%, and Kyrgyzstan's government sector debt as a share of GDP will shrink from 65.2% to 60.6%," a memo attached to the document states.