The growth in public and private investments resulting from the government’s export-oriented and import- substitution industrial policy agenda may create more opportunities for U.S. businesses. Good market prospects may be found in the following areas:

Banking

The government was planning to transition the banking industry from public to private capital, with a target of expanding the private sector’s share to 60% by 2026. However, the privatization of the several largest state banks was postponed several times. State shares in SQB (second largest) are planned to be privatized in 2025-2026, while Asaka bank (fourth largest), Aloka bank (eighth largest state bank) and Turonbank are planned for privatization in 2026-2027. The IMF recommended advancing reforms of state banks and accelerating their privatization to promote financial stability and efficient resource allocation. The income tax rate for banks was reduced from 20% to 15% in 2023. The government raised the size of the minimum authorized capital of a bank from the current 100 billion soum ($8.6 million at the July 28, 2023, exchange rate) to 200 billion soum starting from September 2023, to 350 billion soum from April 2024 and to 500 billion soum ($38.7 million at the January 3, 2025, exchange rate) from January 2025. State banks are in the process of modernizing their client service systems, transitioning to international financial reporting standards, and improving corporate governance to increase their attractiveness to foreign investors. In December 2022 OTP Bank (Hungary) acquired 73.7% of Uzbekistan’s fifth largest bank Ipoteka Bank for $324 million and expects to buy the remaining share by December 2025. 

Privatization of SOEs

The President’s new privatization decree, signed on April 21, 2025, instructs privatization of 29 SOEs in 2025-2026 and IPO and SPO of 12 large SOEs in domestic and international stock exchanges. In February 2025, Franklin Templeton signed an Investment Management Agreement (IMA) with the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Uzbekistan. Under the terms of the IMA, Franklin Templeton has been appointed as Trustee and Manager of the National Investment Fund of Uzbekistan (UzNIF). UzNIF will be endowed with minority stakes in 18 SOEs with the total approximate value of $1.5 billion. According to a Franklin Templeton press-release, the partnership is focused on building stronger capabilities in key SOEs, attracting international investments, strengthening Uzbekistan’s capital markets, and maximizing corporate value to drive economic growth and development. 

Education

With almost a million babies born in Uzbekistan last year (and average population growth of approximately 2%), the pool of higher education aged citizens is growing rapidly. Additionally, higher education enrollment among those between 18 and 23 has grown from 6.8% in 2014 to 47.7% in 2024.  The government wants to attract foreign universities interested in establishing branches in Uzbekistan or creating dual degree programs with local universities. 

Tourism

Developing tourism is among the major priorities of the government. The number of foreign tourists increased from 6.63 million in 2023 to 7.96 million in 2024: 20.1% growth. The target for 2025 is to attract 11 million tourists. The government has created incentives for the construction of international class hotels and other infrastructure in the Great Silk Road cities of Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva, and for connecting them to Tashkent. 

Oil and Gas

Projects in the oil and gas industry are intended to attract about $36.5 billion in investment from various sources between 2019 and 2030. These projects may represent good export opportunities for U.S. suppliers of oil and gas extraction, transportation, processing technologies, and oil services.

Food Processing and Packaging

Growing external demand for food products produced in Uzbekistan and efforts to improve the productivity of the agricultural sector create export opportunities for suppliers of food preservation, processing, and packaging technologies as well as transportation and logistics solutions.  
ICT: An ambitious government program aimed at developing a national information-communication system and upgrading communications infrastructure creates increasing demand for IT solutions in both the public and private sectors of the economy. The government adopted its “Digital Uzbekistan – 2030 Strategy” in October 2020 to intensify work in this direction. 

Chemical industry

The 2019-2030 national program for the development of the chemical industry has identified 31 projects with a total value of $12 billion. The government plans to increase production of higher value-added goods through mineral processing.

SOE procurement

Starting in July 2021, President Mirziyoyev obliged large SOEs and several ministries to conduct their procurements only through public tenders.

Mining

Uzbekistan ranks 10th in gold production (fourth in reserves), fifth in uranium production, and in the top 20 in silver and copper (eighth in reserves) production. By 2030, the country plans to raise its annual production of copper by 3.5 times to 500,000 tons, gold production by 1.5 times to 155 tons, silver output by 3 times to 500 tons, and uranium production by 3 times to 10,000 tons. The government is also paying special attention to the development of critical minerals exploration and production.

Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects

The Presidential Decree “On the measures for the development of public-private partnership in the Republic of Uzbekistan in 2024-2030” lists 80 PPP projects to be undertaken between 2024 and 2030.
Eurobond issues: In recent years the government and SOEs have issued eurobonds worth a few billion dollars on the London Stock Exchange with an interest rate ranging from 5.1% to 8.75%.

Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects: The Presidential Decree “On the measures for the development of public-private partnership in the Republic of Uzbekistan in 2024-2030” lists 80 PPP projects to be undertaken between 2024 and 2030.