Fitch: Uzbekistan has world’s highest gold reserve share

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) — Uzbekistan has the world’s highest share of gold in its international reserves, while rising gold prices and growing holdings of the precious metal have significantly strengthened the country’s external financial position in recent years, international ratings agency Fitch Ratings said.

According to Fitch, Uzbekistan significantly reduced its current account deficit between 2023 and 2025, supported by higher gold exports and rising global gold prices. The coverage of the country’s current external payments by international reserves also improved, which Fitch considers an important factor in assessing creditworthiness.

At the same time, the agency highlighted the growing concentration of gold in Uzbekistan’s reserves and exports as a potential vulnerability. Fitch considers Uzbekistan, along with Kyrgyzstan, one of the countries in the region most sensitive to a sharp decline in gold prices.

In such a scenario, the country’s nominal GDP, government finances and balance of payments could weaken, while the value of its international reserves could decline because of their high gold concentration, according to the agency.

Fitch stressed that a decline in gold prices alone would not result in negative rating action against Uzbekistan.

The agency identified similar trends in other countries in the Caucasus and Central Asia. A significant share of Kyrgyzstan’s reserves is also held in gold, and the country has benefited from higher gold exports and prices, although export volumes have remained volatile.

Azerbaijan’s sovereign wealth fund, which forms the basis of the country’s large external financial buffers, also holds a significant share of its assets in gold.

Overall, Fitch views gold accumulation as a positive factor for the region’s external resilience. The agency noted that the region has historically recorded high current account deficits, a large share of foreign-currency external debt and high dollarization of the financial sector.

At the same time, Fitch said that concentrating reserves in a single asset limits the potential positive impact of high gold prices on sovereign credit ratings.