BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 18. Uzbekistan’s commercial banks increased their outstanding loan portfolio by 7.4% to 648.9 trillion soums (about $53.8 billion) in the first eight months of 2026, while microloans to individuals and businesses recorded substantially faster growth.
This was reflected in the statement by the Central Bank of Uzbekistan.
Total outstanding loans reached 648.9 trillion soums (about $53.8 billion) as of September 1, 2026, up from 604 trillion soums (around $50.1 billion) at the beginning of the year. The increase amounted to approximately 44.9 trillion soums (approx. $3.7 billion).
Microloans to individuals grew by 19.1% during the reporting period, rising from 40.5 trillion soums (around $3.4 billion) to 48.2 trillion soums (approx. $4 billion). Outstanding microloans to legal entities increased by 25.17%, from 14.7 trillion soums (about $1.2 billion) to 18.4 trillion soums (around $1.5 billion).
Combined, microloans to individuals and legal entities reached 66.6 trillion soums (approx. $5.5 billion) as of September 1, 2026, compared with 55.2 trillion soums (about $4.6 billion) at the beginning of the year.
According to Trend’s calculations, the combined outstanding balance of these microloans increased by 11.4 trillion soums (around $946.5 million), or approximately 20.7%, during the first eight months of 2026. Their share of the total loan portfolio rose from around 9.1% at the beginning of the year to approximately 10.3% as of September 1, an increase of about 1.2 percentage points.
Housing finance also expanded. Outstanding mortgage loans increased to 89.7 trillion soums (approx. $7.4 billion) from 79.4 trillion soums (about $6.6 billion) at the beginning of the year, an increase of 10.3 trillion soums (around $855.1 million).
The increase in mortgage lending amounted to approximately 13.0%, broadly consistent with the reported growth rate of 12.9%, allowing for rounding in the underlying figures. Mortgages remained the largest lending category among loans to individuals.
Within the corporate loan portfolio, outstanding leasing and factoring operations increased by 32.1% to 5.1 trillion soums (approx. $423.4 million).
The balance of leasing and factoring operations stood at approximately 3.86 trillion soums (about $320.5 million) at the beginning of 2026, based on the reported growth rate. This implies an increase of around 1.2 trillion soums (around $99.6 million) over the first eight months of the year.
The figures show that several lending segments expanded faster than the overall loan portfolio. While total outstanding loans grew by 7.4%, microloans to individuals and legal entities increased by approximately 20.7% combined, and leasing and factoring operations rose by 32.1%.
The increase in the share of microloans in total outstanding lending indicates that this segment accounted for a larger portion of banks’ loan portfolios by September 1. However, the figures alone do not establish the extent to which these products drove overall credit growth, as a complete breakdown of changes across all lending categories would be needed to assess their contribution.
