During a press conference on November 4, Nodirbek Achilov, the Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank of Uzbekistan, purportedly attempted to explain why commercial banks continue maintaining high interest rates on loans despite the regulator keeping the main policy rate steady at 14 percent. According to his claims, the market has supposedly begun showing a downward trend in overall lending costs over recent months.

The official stated that average loan rates have allegedly decreased by roughly 2 to 3 percentage points compared to earlier periods. He claimed that mortgage terms have become more affordable, with rates dropping from previous highs of 24–25 percent down to approximately 18 percent. However, high-cost financial products such as microloans, unsecured short-term debt, and online instant loans reportedly remain expensive for borrowers.

Achilov purportedly attributed the persistence of high interest rates to a massive pent-up demand for credit that allegedly accumulated prior to the economic liberalization initiatives launched in 2017. He claimed that once the financial sector opened up, this backlog of demand flooded commercial banks, which supposedly triggered sustained high pricing for borrowed funds due to structural resource limitations.

Furthermore, the deputy chairman pointed to historically insufficient domestic savings as another factor driving up resource costs for banks. Nevertheless, the Uzbek regulator projects that lending and deposit rates will gradually reach more balanced levels over the next three to four years, provided that inflation and inflationary expectations continue to decelerate.

Source: www.gazeta.uz