The Central Bank of Uzbekistan has drafted a Concept for Supporting Small and Medium Business for 2026–2030. The document contains 25 initiatives aimed at widening entrepreneurs' access to financing.
One goal is that by 2030 banks should be able to issue online microloans in about one hour on average, with such loans reaching 60% of all microloans. The SME loan portfolio, now 218 trillion soums, is planned to double by 2030.
The share of state financial institutions in SME lending is to fall from 73% to 65%, or to 55% if a large state bank is privatised. The concept also proposes a financial ombudsman for pre-trial settlement of disputes between financial institutions and entrepreneurs, and would allow banks to provide accounting, tax, legal and consulting services.
The concept is to be approved as a pilot document and reviewed every year based on monitoring of targets, progress on initiatives and talks with market participants and experts.
According to World Bank data cited in the document, only 10% of small and 16% of medium enterprises used loans in 2025. SMEs account for 36% of banks' total loan portfolio and 34% of loans issued, and the document says they make up more than half of the country's GDP and about three quarters of employment.
In 2026, 140 trillion soums of credit is earmarked for SME support on the President's instruction. In preparing the concept the central bank studied the experience of Germany's KfW, the British Business Bank, India's SIDBI and Korea's KODIT credit guarantee fund.