March 29 (SeeNews) - Montenegro's total public debt increased by 24.6 million euro on the year to 4.127 billion euro ($4.462 billion) at the end of 2023, the government said in a statement.
The public debt as a percentage of the country's gross domestic product (GDP), however, fell to 60.3% at the end of last year from 70.8% in 2022, the government said in a statement on Thursday.
The Montenegrin economy expanded by 6% in 2023, or by some 900 million euro.
Taking into account the finance ministry's deposits of 152.41 million euro at end-2023, Montenegro's net public debt stood at 3.974 billion euro at the end of December, equivalent to 58% of GDP. At the end of 2022, the net public debt-to-GDP ratio was 69%, according to the statement.
The government borrowed 100 million euro from the international market and 159 million euro from the domestic market in 2023. In addition, last year it withdrew funds worth some 52 million euro from previously signed loan agreements.
At the same time, Montenegro repaid some 301 million euro of loans in 2023.
The country's total foreign debt stood at 3.517 billion euro at the end of last year, equivalent to 51% of GDP. Domestic debt totalled 543 million euro, or 7.9% of GDP.
At the end of 2023, the country's largest borrowing was through Eurobonds, totaling 1.75 billion euro, representing 42% of the total public debt. Montenegro's outstanding debt to China's Exim Bank amounted to 682.4 million euro, constituting 17% of the total public debt. The third-largest share in the total public debt belonged to credits from domestic banks, amounting to 230 million euro at the end of last year, or 5.6% of the total.
In January, the government said it sees the public debt rising to some 62% of GDP at the end of 2024 and projects a downward trend in 2025-2026.
($ = 0.925 euro)