The appreciation of the Uzbek soum in 2025 has become one of the key drivers behind the country’s positive macroeconomic trends, according to Central Bank Chairman Timur Ishmetov, who spoke at a press conference on October 24, Gazeta.uz reports.
Ishmetov noted that growing public trust in the national currency was a major outcome of the soum’s strengthening. “As a result, both cash transactions and savings in the national currency have increased,” he said. The volume of cash soums circulating in the banking system rose by 34% year-on-year, reaching 271 trillion soums.
Inflation expectations among households and businesses have also declined—from 12.3% at the start of the year to 11%. At the same time, the influence of the exchange rate on these expectations has halved.
The level of dollarization in the banking sector continues to fall: loan dollarization decreased from 41% to 37%, and deposit dollarization—from 26% to 23%. According to Ishmetov, this trend has helped slow down imported inflation, with overall price growth across key goods groups easing to 6.1%.
The stronger soum has also reduced the cost of servicing external debt. The Central Bank estimates that the government saved about 1.3 trillion soums, while corporate borrowers saved around 3.6 trillion soums—a combined total of roughly $400 million. These developments, Ishmetov said, are reinforcing trust in the national currency and enhancing the attractiveness of soum-denominated assets.
He added that 15% of export goods and 40% of import goods remain sensitive to exchange rate fluctuations. However, export performance depends not only on currency factors but also on global price trends, production efficiency, and competitive conditions in foreign markets.
According to the Central Bank, Uzbekistan’s total external debt reached $72.2 billion in the first half of 2025, an increase of $8.1 billion over six months. Most of the rise came from the corporate sector. Since 2020, public debt has grown by 72%, while private debt has nearly tripled.
CentralasianLIGHT.org
October 24, 2025