TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, May 27. The international rating agency S&P Global projects that the Central Bank of Uzbekistan's (CBU's) usable reserves will decline through 2028 from their peak this year, partly because of valuation effects linked to the expected fall in gold prices.
Data obtained by Trend from the agency indicates that the CBU's holdings of monetary gold account for approximately 77 percent of its total foreign exchange reserves, presenting a concentration risk if gold prices fall.
Despite this, S&P Global expects that usable reserves will continue to cover around seven months of current account payments from 2025 to 2028. The agency excludes the external assets of the Uzbekistan Fund for Reconstruction and Development (UFRD) from the CBU's reserves, as it considers them primarily fiscal assets, rather than assets intended to support monetary policy or balance-of-payments needs. This view is supported by the budgetary use of UFRD assets in the domestic economy over the past four years.
