Average salary in Uzbekistan exceeded 7 million soums; sectors and regions with the highest growth identified

According to the Central Bank, Uzbekistan's total external debt as of the end of the first half of 2026 reached $84.1 billion. Over the past year, this indicator showed an increase of $11.9 billion, which is an increase of 16.5%.

At the beginning of July, the state external debt amounted to $41.7 billion, while corporate debt was estimated at $42.4 billion. Compared to the previous year, the total debt level was at $72.2 billion. During this period, state debt increased by $4.9 billion, and corporate debt increased by $7 billion.

The Central Bank specified that the corporate external debt includes loans from the private sector that do not have state guarantees. In this case, the state is not responsible for such obligations; payments are made by the enterprises and banks themselves.

The regulator also refers to the International Monetary Fund's assessment, which notes that Uzbekistan's debt burden remains low, and most of the attracted funds were obtained on favorable, preferential terms.

It was previously reported that at the end of the second quarter of 2026, Uzbekistan's state debt reached $48.3 billion. Of this amount, $40.7 billion was due to external obligations, and the remaining $7.6 billion was domestic.

According to data from the National Statistical Committee of Uzbekistan, the volume of Uzbekistan's foreign trade for the period from January to August 2026 amounted to $57.4 billion USD. This figure exceeds the sum for the same period last year by $4 billion, corresponding to a growth of 7.6%.

During this period, exports decreased by 3.4% to $22.9 billion, while imports increased by 16.3%, reaching $34.5 billion. Consequently, Uzbekistan recorded a foreign trade deficit of $11.7 billion.

Non-monetary gold exports fell by 66.3%, decreasing from $8.3 billion to $2.8 billion, and its share in total exports decreased from 35.2% to 12.3%. Meanwhile, the export of goods, excluding gold, showed a growth of 28.7%, reaching $11.5 billion.

Export of services grew by 33.8%, amounting to $8.5 billion and accounting for 37.4% of total exports. More than half of this amount, specifically 54.1%, was received from tourism or travel services, totaling $4.6 billion. Transport services brought in $2.6 billion, while telecommunication, computer, and information services generated revenue of $716.4 million.

Among commodity supplies, various industrial products showed the largest increase, growing by 88.1% to $2.1 billion. Finished goods exports increased by 25.6% to $3.4 billion, chemical products grew by 32.3% to $1.8 billion, and mechanical and transport equipment grew by 43% to $899.8 million. Food product exports remained at the level of the previous year—$1.8 billion.

Exports of petroleum products increased by 46.3%, while natural gas exports decreased by 34.8%. Uzbekistan exported textiles worth $2.1 billion, which is 26.9% more than the previous year; textiles accounted for 9.4% of total exports, with finished textile products making up 51.4% and yarn 32.2%.

Fruit and vegetable exports decreased by 6.6% in value to $1.18 billion and by 1.4% in physical terms to 1.44 million tons. They accounted for 5.2% of total exports. Fruit exports decreased from $416.9 million to $384 million, while vegetable exports increased from $168.6 million to $203.4 million. Onion exports amounted to $91.3 million, and peach exports to $114.7 million.

The largest buyers of Uzbekistan's goods and services were Russia, which purchased goods worth $3.2 billion, accounting for 14% of exports, followed by China with $2 billion (8.7%), Afghanistan ($1.2 billion, 5.4%), Kazakhstan ($1 billion, 4.5%), and France ($927.4 million, 4.1%).

Goods imports increased by $4.3 billion, reaching $30 billion, while service imports grew by 14%, amounting to $4.6 billion. Mechanical and transport equipment accounted for the largest share of imports—$11.3 billion, which is 17.3% more and constitutes 32.6% of total imports. Passenger car imports grew by 72.6% to $1.1 billion, and telecommunications equipment imports increased by 78.5% to $1.1 billion. At the same time, imports of equipment for specific industries decreased by 17.5%.

Food product imports increased by 39.3% to $3.7 billion. Grain imports grew by 58.9% to $967.4 million, and meat imports by 34.2% to $677.4 million. Gasoline imports increased by 48.6%, while diesel fuel imports decreased by 12.3%. Liquefied gas imports increased threefold. Imports of medicines and pharmaceuticals remained almost unchanged at $1.3 billion.

The main suppliers were China with $11.2 billion (32.4% of imports), Russia ($6 billion, 17.4%), and Kazakhstan ($2.7 billion, 7.9%). Overall, Uzbekistan imported goods and services from over 160 countries.

During the reporting period, Uzbekistan traded with more than 200 countries. China maintained its status as the largest trading partner, with bilateral trade with it increasing by 30.2% to $13.2 billion, accounting for 23% of total foreign trade. Trade with Russia increased by 9.7% to $9.2 billion, and with Kazakhstan by 23.4% to $3.7 billion. Trade with Afghanistan grew by 41% to $1.4 billion. Trade volume with Hong Kong increased more than tenfold, from $93.9 million to $980.1 million. Conversely, trade with Germany and India decreased by 1.9% and 5.2%, respectively.

According to data from the Central Bank of Uzbekistan, the volume of foreign currency acquisition in the country for the period from January to August increased by 17.3%, reaching $44.3 billion.

The majority of these purchases were made by business entities, accounting for $34.7 billion. Citizens of Uzbekistan acquired currencies totaling $9.6 billion during the specified eight months.

Simultaneously, there was an increase in currency supply from the population, which grew by 25.5% to reach $38.2 billion. In this context, the population transferred about $16.6 billion to banks, and companies contributed another $21.6 billion.

During January–August, the dollar exchange rate fluctuated between 11,779 and 12,320 soms, showing an overall increase of 1.5% by the end of this period.

It was previously announced that the Central Bank adjusted the methodology for determining the official currency exchange rate in Uzbekistan. Starting September 15, operations on both the currency exchange and the interbank market will be taken into account when calculating the rate.