World Bank Approves $800 Mln Loan to Back Uzbekistan’s Reform Push

The World Bank has approved an $800 Mln concessional loan to support Uzbekistan’s structural reforms aimed at cutting poverty, creating jobs and boosting private-sector growth.

The package funds policies to shield low-income households from higher energy tariffs, including raising annual cash transfers per family from UZS 270K to UZS 1 Mln, and expands social services and workplace protections for women. It also opens social service provision to private and NGO providers.

Economic measures include a National Investment Fund to manage and privatize state firms, an independent telecom regulator to spur competition, agricultural risk insurance and liberalised cotton pricing so textile firms can buy directly from farmers. Trade steps will remove exclusive rights in sectors like energy and agriculture, simplify exports, and allow private participation in power distribution and direct sales by renewable producers.

On climate and efficiency, Uzbekistan will set up a National Energy Efficiency Agency, offer incentives for solar, heat pumps and building retrofits and add green criteria to public procurement. The World Bank notes Uzbekistan’s steady growth in 2010–2022 but says deeper reforms are needed to lift productivity and competitiveness.