Monday, 09, December, 2024

Finances

Uzbekistan and the Asian Development Bank have agreed to sign an agreement for two projects worth $650 million before the year-end, the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade said.

Amid overlapping global crises, IFC continues to focus its efforts on leveraging the private sector for inclusive and sustainable development in Central Asia. In fiscal year 2022, which ended on June 30, IFC provided $468 million in Central Asia aimed at expanding access to finance, improving infrastructure and connectivity, and addressing climate change, in line with IFC’s strategic priorities in the region. That work came alongside milestone advisory engagements to bolster key sectors, like agriculture and energy, structure public-private partnerships, and promote gender diversity.

In spite of the amount of Uzbekistan’s gold reserve republic increasing by more than 9 tons, its monetary value to decrease due to the drop of gold price quotations in the world financial market. The decrease in the price of gold resulted in the Central Bank not exporting it since March.

Since September 12, at least two Uzbek banks have tightened the terms for issuing bank cards to non-residents. According to the press service of Kapitalbank, the bank’s administration tightened compliance control in order to ensure transparency of cash flows and bank operations.

The Board of the Central Bank decided to keep the interest rate at 15%, the regulator said in a statement. The annual price growth rate slowed down in July-August, but exceeded the figures for the same period last year. Also, inflation expectations in the economy, despite the decline compared to the level in May, are still 14-15%.

IFC has finalized an agreement to finance the first wind power plant in Uzbekistan, a 500-megawatt facility in the Navoi region that will power hundreds of thousands of homes. IFC’s investment will support Uzbekistan’s efforts to strengthen its electricity supply, diversify its energy mix with clean energy, and address climate-change-related challenges.

On September 1, the grant agreement was signed by Balthazar Lindauer, Director of the EBRD Nuclear Safety Department, and Narzullo Oblomurodov, Chairman of the State Committee for Ecology and Environmental Protection of Uzbekistan.

On September 12, trading in the Uzbek Soum-Russian Ruble (UZS/RUB) currency pair was launched on the Moscow Exchange, he press service of the Moscow Exchange said.

Deputy Prime Minister/Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade Jamshid Khojaev yesterday hosted a delegation led by Senior Vice President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Keithiro Nakazawa.

Workshop on road safety governance, planning and management to support the National Road Safety Council (NRSC) was held on August 23, for ministries and agencies involved in road safety, such as Ministry of Transport, Committee for Roads, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Finance, MIFT, and Ministry of Health. The agenda of the meeting included presentations in status of Road Safety, actions to decrease death and injuries on accidents, development of National road safety policy, road safety management actions and group negotiations. 

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.