The International Monetary Fund (IMF) serves as one of the key sources of financial assistance for states facing macroeconomic imbalances, shortages of external financing, or crises.
As of September 8, 2026, the total amount of outstanding IMF loans reached 124.3 billion SDR. Since 1 SDR was equivalent to 1.37 US dollars on that date, the total debt was estimated at 170.6 billion US dollars.
Argentina is the leader among IMF borrowers, with a debt of 42.6 billion SDR ($58.4 billion USD). Following are Ukraine (10.9 billion SDR or $14.9 billion USD), Pakistan (8 billion SDR or $11 billion USD), Egypt (7.9 billion SDR or $10.8 billion USD), and Ecuador (7.1 billion SDR or $9.8 billion USD). The group of the next five countries includes Côte d'Ivoire (4.1 billion SDR), Ghana (3 billion SDR), Bangladesh (2.9 billion SDR), Kenya (2.8 billion SDR), and DR Congo (2.4 billion SDR).
The top 10 borrowers account for almost 74% of the total debt owed to the fund, with over 61% belonging only to the first five countries.
The size of the obligations of the largest borrowers is due, in particular, to large-scale financial stabilization programs implemented in recent years. For example, in April 2025, the IMF approved a $20 billion program for Argentina, and in February 2026, an $8.1 billion program for Ukraine. For Egypt, the volume of the active program was increased from $3 billion to $8 billion in March 2024, and Pakistan was approved funding of $7 billion in September of the same year. These programs are aimed at ensuring macroeconomic stability and covering needs for external financing.
Thus, significant IMF loans are mainly related to the need to stabilize the economy after serious internal or external shocks. In Central Asia, the opposite trend is observed: despite a sharp increase in debt during the COVID-19 pandemic, the volume of outstanding fund loans in the region is gradually decreasing.
In the long term, the debt of Central Asian countries to the IMF has significantly decreased. At the end of 1999, it was 693.9 million SDR, and by 2008, it had fallen to 116.6 million SDR. The figure then rose again, reaching 236 million SDR in 2013, after which it decreased to 123.7 million SDR by the end of 2019. A sharp increase occurred in 2020, when the region's debt reached 684 million SDR. From that moment on, it decreased annually, reaching 271.9 million SDR by the end of 2025, which is 60.2% less than five years earlier.
Kazakhstan fully closed its obligations to the IMF on May 24, 2000. Its last early payment amounted to 295.8 million SDR, which at the exchange rate of that time was approximately $385 million USD. The Fund noted that early repayment was possible due to the improvement of the foreign economic situation, including the growth in prices of key RK export commodities, primarily oil, as well as the recovery of the economy after the Asian and Russian crises of 1998 and 1999.
Nevertheless, in December 1999, the IMF provided Kazakhstan with an extended financing program of 329.1 million SDR, but the country did not use these funds, considering the program preventive, and after fully repaying the debt in May 2000, it did not attract new fund loans. According to the IMF, Kazakhstan currently has no outstanding debt on fund loans.
Unlike Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan continued to receive credit support from the IMF in subsequent years. A particularly noticeable increase in their total debt occurred in 2020 amid the pandemic, when the fund provided emergency assistance to cover urgent balance of payments and budget needs of these countries.
Uzbekistan received 275.6 million SDR (about $375 million USD at the exchange rate of that period), and Tajikistan received 139.2 million SDR (approximately $189.5 million USD). Kyrgyzstan was allocated two packages of emergency financing totaling about $242 million USD. Thus, most of the debt accumulated by the end of 2020 in the region was related to anti-crisis support during the pandemic.
After this 'corona crisis' surge, the region's debt began to decrease rapidly. In Uzbekistan, this decline was particularly pronounced: by the end of 2020, the debt was 275.6 million SDR and remained at that level until 2022, then decreased to 229.7 million SDR in 2023, to 137.9 million SDR in 2024, and to 82.8 million SDR by the end of 2025. Over five years, the indicator decreased by almost 70%.
As of September 8, 2026, only Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan had debt to the IMF in Central Asia. Their total obligations amounted to 239 million SDR, equivalent to approximately $328 million USD. Compared to the end of 2020, the region's total debt has decreased by approximately 65%. It should be noted that Turkmenistan initially had no transactions with the IMF, and the fund does not provide data for this country.
The largest debt among Central Asian countries belongs to Tajikistan (111.4 million SDR or about $152.9 million USD). Next is Uzbekistan with a debt of 73.6 million SDR ($101.1 million USD). Kyrgyzstan's outstanding loan volume is 54 million SDR (about $74.2 million USD).
The absence of loans does not mean the cessation of interaction with the IMF. Kazakhstan remains a member of the fund, and the IMF regularly conducts economic assessments of the country within Article IV consultations. The last such consultation was completed by the fund's Executive Board in January 2026.
Ultimately, Central Asia's dependence on IMF credit support today is noticeably lower than during past crisis periods. At the same time, the domestic situation in the region is heterogeneous: some countries continue to repay the funds received, while Kazakhstan has long interacted with the fund without attracting loans. The debt dynamics reflect not so much the level of cooperation as the degree of the countries' need for IMF financial support.
