"Our reserves are enough to cover the losses of some industries while they adapt to new conditions. The inflation will be the major concern. It is clear that the soum’s free float will prompt price rises for some goods, partly due to outflow of Uzbek goods, as a weaker soum will make Uzbek goods more competitive, " Uzbek Deputy Minister of Economy Shukhrat Ismailov said today at an international press club meeting.
An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission led by Mr. Albert Jaeger visited Tashkent during July 17–24, 2017, to discuss economic developments and the authorities’ reform plans. At the conclusion of the visit, the mission issued the following statement.
The Ministry of Finance of Uzbekistan has developed a draft concept for development of the Uzbekistan’s financial markets for medium and long term. The document is published on the portal for discussion of normative legal acts.
The European Union and the Government of Uzbekistan signed today an agreement of EUR 21.5 million for the Horticulture Development Project, which aims to enhance the productivity and profitability of the horticulture sector in the country.
Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Christine Lagarde expressed her support to Uzbekistan's efforts to reform the economy.
The President of Uzbekistan by his resolution of July 13 dismissed Tatyana Guskova from the post of First deputy finance minister due to retirement, the Presidency website reported.
As part of economic cooperation, the Chairman of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank, Thomas Jordan has arrived in Uzbekistan.
At Uzbek Foreign Ministry was held a teleconference with experts of the European Investment Bank (EIB), the Uzbek Foreign Ministry said.
On 5 July 2017, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Invest Finance Bank (InFin Bank) signed an agreement enabling cooperation to support trade in Uzbekistan through ADB’s Trade Finance Program (TFP).
The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved allocation of two loans for US$294.9 million to Uzbekistan for implementation of water resource management and livestock sector development projects.
President of Uzbekistan on Tuesday signed a decree appointing Abdukhafiz Karimov as Deputy Finance Minister. Abdukhafiz Karimov will oversee the issues of financing the social sphere, science, government bodies and the Off-Budget Pension Fund.
Starting from June 28, 2017, the Central Bank of Uzbekistan (CBU) will raise the interest rate by 5 percentage points to 14% per annum, In a statement, the CBU announced.
President Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed a decree on June 16 increasing the government’s stake in Uzbek banks by 500 million US dollars to be funded by the Reconstruction and Development Fund of Uzbekistan (FRDU). The decree is aimed at "maintaining the level of capitalization of banks, help stabilize the e financial stability of the banking system and expanding their participation in financing of projects and lending to entrepreneurship".
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a results-based loan of $500 million to support the construction of up to 29,000 new affordable housing units in nine regions across Uzbekistan as part of the State Affordable Rural Housing Program.
The Government of the Republic of Korea has approved US $ 3.5 million in a grant to support the Boosting Uzbekistan’s Agriculture Through Building of Cold Storage Facilities Project aimed at introducing modern technologies for storage of fruit and vegetable products and further enhancing of cooperation between Uzbekistan and Republic of Korea the in the field of agriculture.
Uzbekistan and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) are preparing $ 1.5 billion worth of joint projects, Uzbek Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov said.
The May 10 Fitch Ratings report says that most of the Uzbek banks it rates are resilient to depreciation of the Uzbek soum, which is possible over the medium term as the authorities plan to liberalise the foreign-exchange market and relax regulation of conversion operations.
As previously reported, in early April 2017, as part of a study tour to the Republic of the Czech Republic organized by the joint project of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan and UNDP "Local Governance Support Program / Phase 2", representatives of ministries and agencies, governor’s offices of Jizzakh, Tashkent and Namangan provinces studied the experience of Czech Republic in the field of organizing the activities of local authorities.
The regulator announced that the Board of the Central Bank made a decision to keep the Bank’s rate at 9%. The Central Bank added that the decision was aimed at implementing the effective monetary policy, keeping the inflation at its target level and stimulating the economic growth.
On 26-28 April, 2017, a mission of the EU officials paid an official visit to Uzbekistan. They held talks with central government officials in Tashkent and local authorities in Samarkand, met with representatives of the diplomatic corps, EU companies, NGOs active in Uzbekistan, and visited the EU-funded projects.