At the Central Bank was today held a meeting with officials of MasterCard Europe. The sides discussed the cooperation for the development of Uzbekistan card payments, as well as enhancing the capacity of the HUMO national card system in terms of maintaining the functionality of using international cards, the Central Bank said in a statement.
The sector outlook for Uzbek banks remains stable after 2018 results confirmed solid asset quality and profitability Fitch Ratings says. However, capitalization and liquidity are modest, and there are risks from rapid loan growth (51% in 2018) and foreign-currency (FC) lending.
Uzbekistan’s Ferghana ValleyMicro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) across Uzbekistan’s Ferghana Valley will benefit from a new rural enterprise development project approved on March 21 by the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors. The project will be supported by a US$ 200 million loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the World Bank Group’s member).
The Uzbek Ambassador to Kuwait, Bahromjon Aloev met with the Regional Manager for Central Asia and Europe of the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED), Fawaz Al-Adsani on Thursday, the Uzbek Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
The agency classifies Uzbekistan’s banking sector in group ‘8’ under its Banking Industry Country Risk Assessment (BICRA). The sector’s peers are in Russia, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kenya, Tunisia and Argentina.
On March 12, a meeting of the Uzbek-Russian Sub-Commission on Interbank Cooperation was held in Moscow, which was attended by representatives of central banks, ministries of finance and economic development, banks of the two countries, as well as representatives of the Uzbek Foreign Currency Exchange and the Moscow Exchange. The meeting was co-chaired by the First Deputy Chairman of the Uzbek Central Bank T. Ishmetov and the First Deputy Chairman of the Bank of Russia K. Yudayeva.
Rating-Agentur Expert RA has upgraded Uzbekistan's sovereign government credit rating (SGC) from ‘B+’ (Moderately low level) to ‘BB-’ (Sufficient level) in national currency and from ‘B+’ (Moderately low level) to ‘BB-’ (Sufficient level) in foreign currency. The rating outlook is stable which means that in the mid-term perspective there is a high probability of maintaining the rating score.
The Central Bank, together with the government, is preparing for phased privatization of banks, in a move which will become part of the financial sector's development concept for medium term, the chairman of the Central Bank Mamariso Nurmuratov announced today at a press briefing.
Uzbekistan is making strong progress implementing challenging economic reforms to support growth and build opportunities for citizens, says Cyril Muller, World Bank Vice-President for Europe and Central Asia. Visiting Uzbekistan on 26-27 February, Mr. Muller reaffirmed the World Bank’s continued support for the country’s transformation agenda.
According to the Uzbek Embassy to U.S., the Vice-President of the World Bank (WB) for Europe and Central Asia, Cyril Muller is visiting Uzbekistan on February 26-28, the Foreign Ministry said.
On 20 February 2019, in the Ministry of Finance, the mission headed by Albert Eger, Chief Financial Officer of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) held a meeting with government officials.
Starting from February 25, 2019, the Central Bank of Uzbekistan will issue a new 100,000 soum banknote, СBU said in a statement.
Uzbekistan plans to cut the gold’s share in its gold reserves and purchase U.S. Treasury securities ("Treasuries") This was by the Uzbekistan Finance Minister Jamshid Kuchkarov told the Reuters.
Uzbekistan is selling $1 billion of Eurobonds in its first foray into international debt markets as the ex-Soviet republic opens its economy to foreign investment after more than two decades of isolation.
Uzbekistan plans to follow up an upcoming $1 billion international bond market debut with regular debt sales while the country’s banks are also expected to seek funds overseas, fund managers said on Tuesday.
Moody's has today assigned a first-time long-term issuer rating to the Government of Uzbekistan at B1. The outlook is stable. In addition, Moody's has also today assigned a provisional rating of (P) B1 to Government of Uzbekistan's forthcoming medium-term note program and a B1 rating to the planned drawdown from the program.
Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Director General for Central and West Asia Department Mr. Werner Liepach visited Uzbekistan from 7 to 11 February.
S&P Global Ratings assigned its ‘BB-’ long-term foreign currency rating to the proposed benchmark-size U.S. dollar-denominated senior unsecured notes to be issued by Uzbekistan (BB-/Stable/B).
Uzbekistan will hold a “road show” (meeting with investors) in the cities of New York, Boston (USA) and London (United Kingdom) from 7 to 14 February 2019.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $2 million regional technical assistance grant to support the development of railways in Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) countries.