Thursday, 28, March, 2024

Finances

IFC is providing a financing package to one of Uzbekistan’s leading banks to boost access to finance for the country’s thousands of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and narrow the financing gap, especially for women entrepreneurs.

On August 18, in Jeddah President Shavkat Mirziyoyev met with Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Hussein Ibrahim Taha.

On August 18, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, as part of the state visit to Saudi Arabia, met with the President of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), Muhammad bin Suleiman Al Jasseer.

Tashkent stock exchange hired a Georgian citizen Giorgi Paresishvili for the role of chairman, the press service of the stock exchange reported.

The second largest bank in Tajikistan opened its representative office in Tashkent. The Central Bank of Uzbekistan has accredited the representative office of Orienbank, the press service of the Central Bank said.

On August 8, 2022 the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, and TBC Bank Group PLC invested additional capital in TBC Bank Uzbekistan (TBC UZ) totaling US $ 35,1 million. TBC Bank Uzbekistan is a subsidiary of TBC Bank Group PLC, the holding company of the leading banking group in Georgia, TBC Bank JSC. TBC Bank Group PLC is registered in England and Wales, and its shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange.

President Mirziyoyevl signed Measures to implement the project "Construction and reconstruction of drinking water supply and sewerage systems in cities and districts of Tashkent province (3rd stage)" with the participation of the Asian Development Bank Decree.

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.

Banks began to charge a fee for cash withdrawal from international bank cards through cash desks and ATMs. Banks explain this "temporary" practice by the fact that some "speculators" began to use international bank cards to withdraw cash. At the same time, there is no talk of Uzbeks who will withdraw currency from their local foreign currency cards. These measures again suggest that the best method of keeping money is not banks, but cash "under the pillow."

Sberbank launched free money remittances in rubles to Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. It will be possible to transfer money up to 50,000 rubles a day without commission to 5 bank’s cards in Uzbekistan through Sberbank app. After this, it is said that the pressure of the ruble against the soum may increase even more.

The Central Bank of Uzbekistan has begun to review the strategy for managing gold and foreign exchange reserves, announced at a press conference on July 21 the governor of the Central Bank Mamarizo Nurmuratov.

Uzbekneftegaz may reschedule the public offering of shares, which was scheduled until 2024, to a later date, when the situation on the financial markets stabilizes, the company said.

Mamarizo Nurmuratov, chairman of the Central Bank of Uzbekistan, confirmed at a press conference on July 21 that it is now difficult for the country's commercial banks to import foreign currency in cash on their own.

The Central Bank has postponed the achievement of a permanent inflation target of 5% to the end of 2024, although this target was originally planned to be achieved in 2023. This was stated at a press conference on July 21 by the chair of the Central Bank Mamarizo Nurmuratov.

The Board of the Central Bank at the meeting today decided to reduce the interest rate by 1 percentage point to 15% per annum, the bank said.

Uzbeks have withdrawn more cash from their bank accounts and cards, the Central Bank said in its half-year report on Tuesday. In January-June, the volume of bank cash turnover topped 316.3 trillion soums, which is by 36.4% more to the same period in 2021.

To spur private sector growth and support micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), including those owned by women, IFC signed a new loan with Hamkorbank, Uzbekistan’s largest private lender.

The Electricity Sector Transformation and Resilient Transmission Project was officially launched today in Tashkent. It will help improve the performance of the National Electric Grid of Uzbekistan JSC (NEGU) to ensure reliable energy supplies to millions of households and businesses across the country.

The Senate approved the design of a new 1,000 soum coin, along with a 200,000 soum banknote. The design of the coin has not yet been unveiled, with the Central Bank adding that coin would be put into circulation before year-end.

On July 13-14, 2022, the Government of Uzbekistan and the World Bank organized a high-level meeting involving senior government officials from the five countries of Central Asia responsible for the human, animal, wildlife and environmental health, and agricultural sectors. They discussed ways to strengthen the regional collaboration in protecting food systems and preventing future pandemics, animal and human disease outbreaks and antimicrobial resistance.