Central Bank published draft law on payments and electronic money in Uzbekistan; EBRD supports expansion of ABNMB Group in Uzbekistan; Five start-up initiatives received 40 million soums for project development; Indian “Synthite Industries” to grow, process peppers in Uzbekistan; A delegation of Canadian oil workers to visit Uzbekistan; Reserves of Uzbekistan increased in gold, but decreased in currency.
Central Bank published draft law on payments and electronic money in Uzbekistan
The document states that its action extends to banks, individuals and legal entities, individual entrepreneurs, who are subjects of the payment services market, and does not apply to operations with cryptocurrencies.
Electronic money issued by e-money issuers in Uzbekistan should be nominated only in the national currency of the country.
“When paying for goods, works and services sold on the territory of the Republic of Uzbekistan, only electronic money issued on the territory of the Republic of Uzbekistan can be accepted,” the draft says.
EBRD supports expansion of ABNMB Group in Uzbekistan
New food and beverages production facilities and coffee shops to be opened in Tashkent.
A $2 million EBRD loan will finance investments into the ABNMB Group’s production of beverages and food, such as bakery, pastry and ice creams. The Group is also planning to expand its popular and well-established Bon! coffee shops, which will be well placed to meet growing demand for high-quality public catering services in the country’s largest city with a population of over 2.5 million people.
The project has received grant funding from the EBRD Shareholder Special Fund and the EBRD Small Business Impact Fund (SBIF), which has been instrumental for the project implementation. With the donor support, as part of the EBRD’s project, ABNMB Group will implement ISO 22000 standards for its bakery and confectionary operations and introduce new bakery production technology.
Five start-up initiatives received 40 million soums for project development
Demo Day of the Startup Initiative program was held at the Youth Union of Uzbekistan, where 18 teams presented projects to members of the jury and potential investors.
This year, 510 applications were submitted for participation in the program, of which 242 projects were screened out at the first stage. The remaining 268 teams were interviewed in Tashkent and other regions of the country.
As a result, 32 startups from Tashkent and 60 from regions became participants. For five days, they had intensive training in the basics of startups.
Indian “Synthite Industries” to grow, process peppers in Uzbekistan
On December 10-16, a delegation of the Indian “Synthite Industries Ltd” visited Uzbekistan to discuss further steps to implement a joint project for the cultivation and processing of pepper.
It should be recalled that within the framework of the official visit of the President of Uzbekistan to India, an agreement was reached on organizing pepper processing in the amount of $ 4 million between the holding company “Uzbekozikovkatholding” and the company “Synthite Industries Ltd”.
At the end of the meeting, provisional dates were discussed for the next visit of the delegation of “Synthite Industries Ltd” to realize the next stage of the investment project.
A delegation of Canadian oil workers to visit Uzbekistan
This was announced on the basis of the round table organized in Toronto by the Canadian Business Association in Russia and Eurasia (CERBA) and the Embassy of Uzbekistan.
Participants of the event noted that the reforms implemented in the country in the sphere of liberalization of the economy and the creation of favorable conditions for foreign investors open up new opportunities for the development of Uzbek-Canadian relations in the field of trade and investment. Agriculture, mining, IT, engineering, service, and others are identified as promising areas for interaction.
As part of the event, an agreement was reached on organizing the participation of the Uzbek delegation in March 2019 in the world’s largest exhibition of the mining industry PDAC, which is held annually in Toronto at the congress of the Association of Explorers and Miners of Canada.
Reserves of Uzbekistan increased in gold, but decreased in currency
The Central Bank published information about the country’s foreign exchange reserves as of December 1, 2018.
Net foreign exchange reserves amounted to $25,2 billion. This value is close to the minimum for the entire year. At the same time, reserves in gold rose sharply – $14,9 billion.
The Central Bank notes that the decrease in reserves in January-November is partly due to the decline in the price of gold from $1.296,5 to $ 1.220,45 per troy ounce (the estimated effect on the decline is $823,2 million).