TASHKENT, July 23 (Xinhua) -- The Central Bank of Uzbekistan on Thursday decided to keep the annual base rate unchanged at 15 percent.
The Uzbek Central Bank, which had cut its base rate from 16 to 15 percent in April, said after a meeting of its board that the increase in budget expenditures and the provided fiscal incentives have become the main factors in maintaining economic activities amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The central bank warned that the pandemic can lead to a high level of uncertainty in economic environment and unpredictability, which significantly reduce the efficiency and accuracy of forecasts.
Early this year, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev instructed the country's central bank to allocate 3.1 billion U.S. dollars to support domestic enterprises' working capital to overcome the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Uzbekistan, Central Asia's most populous nation, has reported 18,531 confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Thursday. Enditem
