The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has committed up to $50 million (€42.7 million) to Uzbekistan’s O’zsanoatqurilishbank, known as SQB, to expand lending to young entrepreneurs. The financing is part of the EBRD’s Youth in Business programme for Central Asia and targets micro, small and medium-sized enterprises led or owned by people under 35.
The focus on younger business owners reflects Uzbekistan’s demographics. At the start of 2025, the country had 9.63 million people aged 14 to 30, representing 25.7% of the population, according to official statistics. The SQB loan is one of two EBRD operations in Uzbekistan’s financial sector worth up to $100 million (€85.4 million). A separate $50 million line with the Mortgage Refinancing Company of Uzbekistan aims to support the residential mortgage market and promote more standardised lending practices.
Liquidity Abundant but Misallocated
Small businesses accounted for 51.5% of Uzbekistan’s GDP between January and September 2025, with 1.2 million operating entities as of 1 October, according to the National Statistics Committee. Yet many still struggle to access bank credit. Francis Malige, Managing Director and Head of the Financial Institutions Business Group at the EBRD, told Euronews that the problem is not a lack of money. “Liquidity is certainly abundant,” he said. “What we see is that a lot of it goes to sovereign lending, to state borrowing, but not necessarily to financing the real economy.”
The SQB credit line is designed to bridge that gap by targeting young firms that often fail to meet conventional lending standards. For many smaller enterprises, the first hurdle is not the business idea itself but whether they can provide the records, financial planning and operating history that banks use to assess risk. Malige described a structural mismatch: “They do not speak to banks in a way that banks expect them to.” Smaller firms typically have fewer financial forecasts, less formalised planning and lower transparency than larger companies. In SME lending, he argued, banks need to place more weight on the credibility of the founder, the management team and the business plan.
For women entrepreneurs, the finance gap can begin even before a loan application is filed. Access to credit may depend on whether they can find information, networks and support services that make available programmes usable in practice. Ceren Güven Güres, Head of the UN Women Central Asia Liaison Office, noted that Uzbekistan has made significant progress on gender equality reforms, including support programmes for women entrepreneurs. But legal and policy changes do not automatically translate into equal access. “Are they aware of their rights? Are they aware of these services?” she asked.
Collateral Remains a Key Barrier
Once a business reaches the bank, the next test is often security. Many young entrepreneurs and first-time business owners may not yet own the property or equipment needed to support a loan application. “A lot of banks require collateral assets, fixed assets, and very often SMEs do not have these in a way that can actually support borrowing from banks,” Malige said. He added that many banks treat SME lending as “a sort of a downgraded version of corporate lending. That’s not how it should be.”
The EBRD says it works with both borrowers and lenders through technical assistance, training and risk-sharing instruments such as first-loss cover, which can help banks lend to clients that lack traditional collateral. For women business owners, access to finance is also shaped by conditions outside the banking system. Güres pointed to social expectations, gender stereotypes and care responsibilities that can limit women’s ability to build businesses, join networks and use available services. “We need to go back to the root causes, the harmful social norms and gender stereotypes, the care burden on women,” she said.
Uzbekistan’s broader economic reforms have attracted international attention. The country is also targeting $5 billion in AI exports by 2030, leveraging its young workforce and energy resources, as reported in a related article. Meanwhile, the EBRD’s latest loan underscores the persistent challenge of channelling liquidity into productive sectors. As Malige put it, the goal is to ensure that financing reaches the real economy, not just state borrowers.
