The Central Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan said it met with International Monetary Fund experts to discuss a technical assistance report on a recalibrated roadmap for capital account liberalization. The discussion centered on a gradual, phased approach that links any easing of capital account restrictions to macroeconomic stability, financial system resilience and the economy’s capacity to absorb capital flows. IMF experts said their mission reviewed Uzbekistan’s ongoing economic reforms, institutional changes and financial sector transformation through more than 25 meetings with regulators, government bodies, market participants and investors. The report’s approach gives priority to risk-mitigation mechanisms before initial relaxations for low-risk transactions, followed by broader liberalization as conditions allow. It also ties capital account reform to wider structural measures, including market-oriented reforms, bank privatization, state-owned enterprise reform, non-performing loan reduction and stronger macroprudential policy. Participants also highlighted the need for transparent communication with investors and closer coordination with the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Investment, Industry and Trade, the National Agency for Perspective Projects, the Tax Committee and the Customs Committee, while keeping financial inclusion and small and medium-sized enterprise access to finance within the liberalization agenda. The parties agreed to continue exchanging views and recommendations on the report, finalize it and deepen cooperation on capital account liberalization initiatives.

Original source Back to tracker