Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- At the 52nd plenary meeting of the Senate, a report of the Central Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan on activities in 2023 was heard.

It was noted that in 2023, the Central Bank pursued a coordinated monetary and macroprudential policy aimed at containing inflation and ensuring an optimal level of financial stability of the banking system, minimizing the negative impact of possible risks on the capital and liquidity of banks.

In particular, deposit balances in national currency in commercial banks increased 1.3 times compared to 2022 and amounted to almost 170 trillion soums.

Balances on deposits of individuals increased 1.4 times and reached 64 trillion soums, balances on deposits of legal entities increased more than 1.2 times and reached almost 106 trillion soums.

From March 2023, the base rate was reduced from 15% to 14%, as the inflation rate began to decline from the first quarter of 2023.

These measures in the monetary sphere made it possible to contain the rapid growth of inflation. The inflation rate at the end of 2023 remained within 8.8%.

Thanks to macroprudential measures, at the end of 2023, the volume of regulatory capital in the banking system amounted to 106 trillion soums, assets at risk - 604 trillion soums, capital adequacy ratio - 17.5% (minimum requirement - 13%).

In the reporting year, 251.4 trillion soums were allocated for financial support of entrepreneurial activities, or almost 24% more than in 2022, the total balance of credit investments reached about 497 trillion soums.

The balance of credit investments allocated to the population increased by 47% compared to 2022 and amounted to 148.2 trillion soums. The balance of credit investments allocated to business entities increased by 15.3% and amounted to 348.5 trillion soums.

As part of programs for the development of family entrepreneurship, commercial banks have allocated preferential loans totaling 10 trillion soums for the implementation of over 472 thousand projects.

During the reporting year, banks created additional reserves for assets in the amount of 13.1 trillion soums and the level of coverage of problem loans with reserves increased by 4 percentage points and reached 85% as of 1 January 2024.

A network of Humo and Uzcard ATMs has been integrated for bank card users, and conditions have been created for alternative use of these ATMs.

At the same time, the senators drew attention to a number of tasks that the Central Bank must carry out, and noted that cases of theft of funds from citizens’ bank cards through various fraudulent means have not been eradicated, work on the integration of payment terminals “Humo” and “Uzcard” has not been completed, share problem loans in the total loan portfolio remain virtually at the level of last year.

Proposals were made to carry out work during the activities of the Central Bank in 2024 in terms of taking measures to reduce the basic level of inflation, ensuring price stability, stable operation of payment systems and expanding the range of services, strengthening cybersecurity measures aimed at preventing the withdrawal of funds in a fraudulent manner.

After discussion, a corresponding Senate resolution was adopted, which reflected the proposals of the senators.