The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved two loans totaling $400 million to support the Government of Uzbekistan’s initiatives to strengthen the country’s financial markets and develop a sustainable market-oriented energy sector.
General Director of the ADB for Central and West Asia, Yevgeniy Zhukov emphasized that the active participation of the private sector is very important for Uzbekistan’s economic growth and transformation. “Reforms supported by these programs will help shape an enabling environment for regulators and firms to play their part in boosting development by building robust domestic financial markets and addressing energy needs while tackling climate change,” Zhukov stated.
A $300 million loan for subprogram 2 of the Power Sector Reform Program will provide budget support for policy actions to improve the power sector’s structure, legal and regulatory framework, and governance to encourage private sector investment and promote financial sustainability.
A $100 million loan for subprogram 2 of the Financial Markets Development Program will support regulatory and institutional reforms focused on improving market facilitation to streamline financial transactions and services and increase supply and demand measures to grow Uzbekistan’s capital and money markets.
The ADB had previously approved a $100 million soft loan to help Uzbekistan improve perinatal health services for pregnant women and newborns.
Uzbekistan became a member of the ADB in 1995, and since then, the bank has provided the country with loans, grants, and technical assistance totaling $12.5 billion.
