In the first 11 months of 2025, Uzbekistan’s domestic foreign exchange market demonstrated high activity and stability. The key trends of the period were the outpacing growth of foreign currency supply over demand, a significant increase in the volume of operations involving the population, and the strengthening of the national currency.
1. General Balance of Demand and Supply
From January to November 2025, growth was observed on both the supply and demand sides of Uzbekistan’s domestic foreign exchange market; however, the growth rate of the total foreign currency supply in the domestic market exceeded the growth rate of demand.
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Demand: The total volume of demand for foreign currency amounted to $53.7 billion, an increase of 24% compared to the same period last year.
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Supply: The volume of supply (excluding Central Bank operations) reached $45.6 billion, showing a growth of 26%.
Additional liquidity formed through operations with monetary gold is sterilized by the Central Bank through foreign exchange interventions (within the framework of the neutrality principle) and other monetary policy instruments.
2. Corporate Sector: Growth in Activity and Sources of Financing
Significant dynamics are observed in the legal entities segment: the growth rate of currency supply from businesses (+35%) noticeably outpaced the growth of their demand for currency (+24%).
Foreign currency supply from businesses was formed through the following main sources:
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Export Revenue: Currency supply formed from the export revenue of economic entities grew by 17% and amounted to $16.0 billion. Of this volume, $8.9 billion (55% of revenue) was sold on the domestic market, which is $1.4 billion or 19% more than a year earlier.
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Credit Lines: Commercial banks sold $8.1 billion on the market from attracted foreign credit lines, which is 63% (or $3.5 billion) more than the figures for 2024.
Import Financing Structure: The main source of import financing remains funds converted on the domestic market (64.7%). The share of imports financed by enterprises’ own foreign currency funds accounted for 24.0%, and by foreign currency loans — 11.3%.
Purposes of Currency Purchase: Businesses purchased foreign currency primarily for production and investment purposes:
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50% — import of equipment, goods, and raw materials for production purposes.
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27% — repayment of loans in foreign currency.
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17% — import of consumer goods and medicines.
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2% — repatriation of foreign investors’ income.
3. Role of the Population and Cross-Border Transfers
Operations by individuals became one of the important sources of additional supply in the foreign exchange market. The positive balance of the population’s operations with banks reached $8.7 billion, increasing 1.4 times compared to last year.
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Currency Sales by the Population: Citizens sold $19.4 billion to banks (a 1.3-fold increase).
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Currency Purchases by the Population: The volume of currency purchases by individuals amounted to $10.6 billion (+25%).
Remittances: International money transfers provided substantial support to the supply. In January-November 2025, $17.3 billion was received in the republic, which is 25% (or $3.5 billion) more than in the same period of 2024. At the same time, currency outflow via transfers decreased by $157 million and amounted to $2.4 billion.
4. Exchange Rate Dynamics
Against the backdrop of prevailing macroeconomic conditions and favorable market trends, the national currency demonstrated a tendency to strengthen. Over the 11 months of 2025, the soum exchange rate strengthened by 7.5%.
While at the beginning of 2025 the exchange rate was in the range of 12,920 – 12,960 soums per dollar, by the end of November it corrected to the level of 11,900 soums.
Strengthening Factors: The strengthening of the national currency was driven by a combination of macroeconomic factors:
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Substantial growth in currency flows from exports.
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Growing dynamics of foreign investments.
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Increase in the volumes of attracted foreign loans and money transfers.
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Relative stabilization of import volumes.
Conclusion
The foreign exchange market of Uzbekistan in 2025 is characterized by balanced growth and high liquidity. Structural changes, such as the outpacing growth of currency supply from businesses and record volumes of transfers, created a solid foundation for the strengthening of the national currency, contributing to macroeconomic stability.