The volume of foreign exchange interventions of the Central Bank in July-September neared $2 billion, the regulator said in a report on Tuesday.
In Q3, the Central Bank bought 19.5 trillion soums, or US$ 1.6 billion, worth of monetary gold, which is 19.6% more than the same period last year (16.3 trillion soums). The regulator spent the same amount on the purchase of gold in Q2.
While, in July-September, 22.8 trillion soums ($1.9 billion) worth of interventions were made, which is 18% less than in the second quarter (28 trillion soums, or $2.4 billion). Data for this period last year are not provided.
As a result, the value of net interventions in the foreign exchange market amounted to 3.3 trillion soums, or $300 million. The Central Bank assesses this as an intervention within the framework of the “principle of neutrality” of foreign currency, which “could not be sold due to sufficient supply in the domestic market.”
The Central Bank plans to conduct foreign exchange interventions in the fourth quarter (October-December) within the framework of the “principle of neutrality of gold and foreign exchange reserves” and expects that the Ministry of Finance and the Fund for Reconstruction and Development of Uzbekistan will adhere to the principle of neutrality when using foreign exchange funds.
In the previous quarter, the national currency depreciated sharply against the dollar - by almost 6%. Most of the devaluation occurred in mid-August, when the soum weakened by 400 soums in a single day, breaking through the mark of 12 thousand soums for a dollar.
