- Decision
- Maintain
- Rate change
- 0 bps
- policy rate
- 14%
In its July 2026 decision, the Central Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan kept the policy rate unchanged at 14% per annum, saying slower disinflation, persistent supply-side and external price pressures, strong domestic demand and possible second-round effects from energy tariff changes warranted tight monetary conditions to bring inflation toward its 5% target. The rate was raised by 50 bp in March 2025 to 14% from 13.5% in January 2025 and has been unchanged since. The Central Bank said monetary conditions remain sufficiently tight, with positive real interest rates supporting savings and contributing to a moderation in credit growth. Headline inflation accelerated to 6.4% year on year in June, mainly because of regulated energy tariff increases and coal price liberalization, while core inflation was 5.7%, and the end-2026 inflation forecast was unchanged at 6.5%. Real GDP grew 8.5% in the first half of 2026, with retail trade, services and investment indicating robust demand, and growth is projected at around 7.5-8% in 2026. The Central Bank warned that higher global food and commodity prices, fuel supply disruptions in trading partner countries, elevated logistics costs, and tight external financial conditions could add to imported inflation and financing uncertainty, and said it will continue to maintain the monetary conditions necessary to ensure price stability.
Rate evolution
From June 2025 to September 2026, the Central Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan kept the policy rate at 14%, maintaining a tight stance as inflation slowed only gradually, core and services inflation remained elevated, expectations exceeded actual inflation, and robust demand drew support from credit growth, fiscal spending, remittances, investment and high activity.
By late 2025 and January 2026, it judged disinflation to be broadening as exchange-rate appreciation, lower import-price pressure and tighter monetary conditions pushed core inflation down and led to lower inflation forecasts, but services inflation, retail lending and resilient consumer demand still warranted tight policy, even as it said rate cuts could be considered if inflation and expectations kept falling. In March and April 2026, the Central Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan said price stabilization had slowed, food-price inflation and producer prices were adding pressure, expectations remained above forecast, growth and aggregate demand had strengthened further, and geopolitical tensions were increasing oil, food, supply-chain and logistics risks, so it kept the policy rate at 14% and said conditions could be tightened further if inflation or expectations threatened progress towards the 5% target. At its 17 June meeting, it again held the rate at 14%, noting that headline inflation had fallen to 5.5% in May as energy-tariff base effects faded, but core inflation was broadly unchanged at 5.7%, domestic demand remained strong, and fiscal spending, the June energy-tariff increase and external food, energy and logistics costs posed further risks. On 29 July, it maintained the rate at 14% as headline inflation accelerated to 6.4% in June following higher regulated energy tariffs and coal price liberalization, core inflation remained at 5.7%, demand continued to grow rapidly, and tariff effects, fiscal spending and external price and supply risks warranted tight conditions despite lower household and business inflation expectations.
On 16 September, it again held the policy rate at 14%, noting that headline inflation had slowed to 6.2% in August and core inflation was around 5.5%, but a growing share of goods and services recorded price increases above 5% and inflation expectations were declining more slowly than headline inflation. Active consumption and investment demand, high global commodity, food and energy prices, transport and logistics costs, and potential second-round effects from regulated-price liberalization warranted continued tight conditions, despite signs of stabilization in some demand components, moderating credit growth and real effective exchange-rate appreciation that eased import-price pressure.