Uzbek President instructed the Central Bank to create a Development Bank with a capital of US$ 500 million, Central Bank Chairman, Mamarizo Nurmuratov said at a meeting of the International Press Club Wednesday.

The Bank’s main goal will be to boost the exports, he said. “The bank will deal with pre-export loans, post-loan services, export subsidies and logistics. The preparation for settign up of the bank took some time, the works are just about to start,” said Mamarizo Nurmuratov.

Deputy Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade/Executive Director of the Uzbekistan Fund for Reconstruction and Development (UFRR) Shukhrat Vafoev acknowledged that aggressive models of financial support for exports were required.

“We must support exports, and the support must be aggressive. We have received major tasks and instructions. Together with the Central Bank, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economy and Industry, we have been instructed to develop a comprehensive export support system. If an applicant has any problems, our doors are always open,” he said.

Mamarizo Nurmuratov also commented on the issue of the dependence of banks on large customers and shareholders. He acknowledged that there are cases when bank owners force the banks to lend to their own businesses, with those operations violating the interests of bank customers. This also applies to the Ministry of Finance and the UFRR, which are shareholders in large banks.

“This is one of the main areas of the banking system’s reform strategy - three to four customers account for 35–40% of loans. We are addressing this issue. Such loans will be issued by UFRR or the Development Bank, so that all banks have equal conditions, ”the chief of the Central Bank concluded.