In Uzbekistan, it is planned to lift the restriction on the sale of government securities to individuals in the coming years. This was announced at the plenary session of the Senate on August 4 by Deputy Finance Minister Odilbek Isoqov.
According to him, the Ministry of Finance was set to increase the issuance of government treasury bonds. If in 2019 government bonds worth 600 billion soums were issued, then in 2020-2021 this figure increased to 5 trillion soums. In 2022, the issue of securities worth 6 trillion soums is expected.
“We are carrying out systematic work together with the Central Bank to attract not only banks, but also other investors, including foreign investors, to state treasury securities. Work is also underway to issue bonds for the population, that is, individuals, not legal entities. We have such plans for the next years,” he said.
Odilbek Isoqov said that the interest rates of government bonds issued for the population will be higher than those for legal entities, approximately by 3-4%. “The reason is that we have to pay [interest] at least at the rates of deposits in banks ... We have plans. This is also taken into account in the public debt management strategy, which provides for the development of the domestic debt market, an increase in the issuance of bonds,” the Deputy Minister noted.
At the end of October 2019, the Presidential Administration instructed the Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank and the already liquidated Capital Market Development Agency within a month to prepare a "road map" aimed at developing the secondary market for government bonds (providing for the sale of government bonds to individuals) and the implementation of International Financial Reporting Standards in national legislation.
In January 2020, the Central Bank announced that it was still premature to allow the public to buy government bonds, given the high rates on bank deposits. The regulator then expressed confidence that it is more profitable for individuals to place funds on deposit in banks than to purchase government bonds.
In June of this year, the rates on deposits for the population in the national currency reached a peak since 2014 - 21%. As a result, the total volume of deposits of citizens increased to 49.13 trillion soums, an increase of 10.6% over the month.
