DUSHANBE, Jan 24, 2008 (AFP) - Uzbekistan has cut gas supplies to Tajikistan by a third because of debts amid freezing winter weather in the mountainous Central Asian state, the head of Tajikistan's gas monopoly said on Thursday.

'Tajikistan is receiving two million cubic metres of gas every day instead of the usual three million' because of a debt of seven million dollars (4.8 million euros), Fatkhiddin Mukhsiddinov, head of Tajikgaz, told AFP.

Uzbekistan raised the price of gas to Tajikistan from 100 dollars per 1,000 cubic metres in 2007 to 145 dollars per 1,000 cubic metres for 2008. Tajikistan depends almost entirely on energy imports from Uzbekistan.

There have been regular black-outs in recent days in the capital Dushanbe and there is no street lighting at night. In the villages, electricity only goes on for around one hour a day.