The Central Bank of Uzbekistan published a financial stability review for 2025, which shows an increase in household debt: more than half of citizens who took out loans during the year have two or more outstanding debts, Tashkent Today reported.
The share of borrowers with multiple loans to banks and microfinance organizations (MFOs) increased from 43% to 53%.
62% of the borrowers owe banks only, and 20% owe MFOs. The share of individuals with debts to both the banks and MFOs increased to 18% (+10% year-on-year).
The number of bank borrowers increased by 11%, reaching 5.2 million people. There are 244 debtors among every 1,000 working-age citizens.
Despite the increase in the number of loans, the average debt burden (payment-to-income ratio) decreased slightly from 38% to 37%.
The Central Bank warns that the need to service parallel loans could negatively impact the population’s solvency in the future.
