New investment portal has been launched in Uzbekistan; Uzbekistan intends to solve the problem with Zeromax lenders; Jizzakh accumulator plant to sell over 51% of its shares to foreign investors; The circus is planned to be transferred to the management of a private company; PAYMO develops financial marketplace for Uzbekistan; Uzmetkombinat launches capacities for production of ferrosilicon manganese; Central Bank receives the delegation of JP Morgan Chase Bank and EBRD.
New investment portal has been launched in Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan launched a specialized investment portal invest.gov.uz, where all the necessary information about the investment potential of the country can be found. The portal is available in 8 languages – Russian, Uzbek, English, German, French, Turkish, Korean and Chinese.
By means of the launched portal, potential investors will be able to obtain the necessary information about each region down to the district level, its raw materials, export and import potential, infrastructure, prices for utilities, demographic indicators and other necessary data for making investment decisions.
Also there is a separate section, provided for domestic enterprises that are looking for investors. A list of events to attract investors held by the committee has been published in order to expand their opportunities for networking with foreign partners in business forums.
Uzbekistan intends to solve the problem with Zeromax lenders
It should be recalled that after the Uzbek company Zeromax GmbH declared itself bankrupt in 2010, a number of large German construction companies appealed to the government of Uzbekistan to cover their expenses. They took part in various Zeromax projects, including the construction of the Palace of International Forums.
According to German media reports, lenders, among which there are over 100 companies from various countries of the world, demanded to return about 4 billion Swiss francs to them. At the same time, the level of debt to German construction companies from various sources was estimated from €60 to €200 million.
Experts say, a successful resolution of this issue will remove the barriers hindering the dynamic development of economic relations between Germany and Uzbekistan. In addition, this will make it possible to significantly increase the investment image and attractiveness of Uzbekistan as a reliable partner in the eyes of foreign investors, especially since this amount does not look so overwhelming against the background of the growth of Uzbek-German trade.
Jizzakh accumulator plant to sell over 51% of its shares to foreign investors
According to the report of “Uzavtosanoat”, published on December 14 this year, the Uzbek automobile company will place 51.78% of shares of the JSC “Jizzakh accumulator plant” on sale for foreign investors on the Republican Stock Exchange “Tashkent”. Foreign investors will be sold 38.601.936 units worth more than 93,8 billion soums.
The JSC “Jizzak accumulator plant” supplies the JSC “GM Uzbekistan”, LLC “SamAvto” and LLC “JV MAN Auto-Uzbekistan” with batteries.
The products manufactured by the company are sold under the trademarks “ENERGY”, “ATLANT”, CLASSIC” and “HOPPENERGY”.
The circus is planned to be transferred to the management of a private company
The circus, which is run by the state, is in crisis – over the past 20 years, the number of viewers has decreased from 1.052 people per day to 200-250.
In addition, circus employees have no financial incentives, and valuable workers are leaving abroad. In this regard, it is proposed to conduct a competitive selection to identify an investor, who will be able to withdraw the Uzbek State Circus from this deplorable state, on the principles of a public-private partnership before June 1, 2019.
The practice of attracting private companies is planned to be extended to the creation of circuses (for 500–700 people) in the regions, in particular, Samarkand, Fergana and Khorezm.
PAYMO develops financial marketplace for Uzbekistan
This is a system that unites providers and consumers of financial services in one information space and provides participants with a range of services that increase the speed and efficiency of financial transactions.
The company is ready to provide the following products in the marketplace: loans, deposits, card products, investment services (purchase of securities, commemorative coins, and so on).
The project is planned to be implemented in three stages. At first, it will be a service aggregator, then, with the help of integration with banking systems, it will be possible to provide services on the same site online. At the last stage, it is planned to introduce investment services, and the system itself will determine the best options to invest money into.
Uzmetkombinat launches capacities for production of ferrosilicon manganese
Uzmetkombinat launched capacities for production of ferrosilicon manganese. The annual capacity for production of ferrosilicon manganese brand MnS17 is 10.000 tons per year.
At the same time, the plant plans to use 6.000 tons of products per year for its own needs. The company intends to supply 1.000 tons of products per year to the domestic market and 3.000 tons – for export.
The project will reduce the dependence of the metallurgical industry of Uzbekistan on imports of raw materials and reduce production costs.
Central Bank receives the delegation of JP Morgan Chase Bank and EBRD
The Central Bank of Uzbekistan held a meeting with a delegation of the EBRD led by the managing director for Russia and portfolio management Ms. N. Khanzhenkova and the newly appointed managing director for Central Asia Mr. B Balvaner on December 11. During the meeting, issues of further cooperation in the framework of strengthening the potential of the Central Bank, development of the banking system and financial markets, and the project of financial education for entrepreneurship in the Republic of Uzbekistan were discussed.
On December 12, the Central Bank of Uzbekistan held a meeting with the delegation of JP Morgan Chase Bank N.A. headed by Stefan Weiler, Managing Director of the subdivision on markets of capital and debt obligations in the regions of Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa. During the meeting, issues regarding the current work on obtaining a sovereign rating and issuing Eurobonds in international markets, as well as prospects for the emission of Eurobonds by commercial banks of Uzbekistan and cooperation in managing international reserves of the Central Bank were discussed.