Microfinance Organizations in Uzbekistan Issue Loans Totaling 21.3 Trillion Soums

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — From January to September 2025, microfinance organizations and pawnshops in Uzbekistan issued loans totaling 21.3 trillion soums, doubling the volume recorded during the same period last year, according to the Central Bank of Uzbekistan.

In the third quarter of 2025, 26 new participants entered the microfinance services market, including 132 microfinance organizations and 55 pawnshops, opening a total of 187 branches. This brought the total number of such institutions to 218, comprising 126 microfinance organizations with 368 branches and 92 pawnshops with 126 branches.

The number of microfinance organizations with foreign capital increased by eight compared to the same period last year, reaching 24 by the end of the third quarter, including 16 microfinance organizations and 8 pawnshops.

The largest concentration of active microfinance organizations and pawnshops is in Tashkent, with 70 microfinance institutions and 47 pawnshops, and in the Fergana region, with 19 microfinance organizations and 5 pawnshops. In the Republic of Karakalpakstan and the Kashkadarya region, there is only one head office registered. Tashkent hosts 39 pawnshop branches and 31 microfinance organization branches, while Khorezm region has 15 branches in total.

During January–September 2025, microfinance organizations and pawnshops issued loans totaling 21.3 trillion soums, twice the amount compared to the same period in 2024. In particular, lending by microfinance organizations grew 2.1 times, while pawnshop lending increased by 36 percent. Microfinance organizations accounted for 90 percent of lending (19.2 trillion soums), and pawnshops for 10 percent (2.1 trillion soums).

Regarding the distribution of services, 20.5 trillion soums, or 96 percent, were provided to individuals, and 746 billion soums, or 4 percent, to legal entities.

Segmenting loans issued from January to September 2025, the volume of online loans grew by 26 percent year-on-year, representing 69 percent of loans provided by microfinance organizations. The rapid growth in online lending is largely due to purchases of goods and raw materials by individuals through the Uzum Market e-commerce platform, the Uzum Tezkor express delivery service, other outlets connected to Uzum Nasiya, as well as online loans issued by Tezkoin (9.5 trillion soums), Shaffof-Moliya (3.4 trillion soums), and Paylater (100 billion soums).

During the same period, microfinance organizations provided Islamic financing (“murabaha,” Islamic leasing, “mudaraba”) totaling 8.6 billion soums, 14 times higher than the same period last year. Following the adoption of the Regulation “On the Procedure for Providing Islamic Financing Services by Microfinance Organizations” (Registration No. 3536, July 26, 2024), microfinance institutions were authorized to offer such services.

Loan segmentation for individuals shows that from January to September 2025, 62 percent of loans were below 10 million soums, 14 percent were between 10–20 million soums, 14 percent between 20–50 million soums, and 10 percent between 50–100 million soums. By the end of the third quarter, the share of loans under 10 million soums increased by 17 percentage points compared to the same period last year, loans from 10–20 million soums rose by 1 percentage point, loans from 20–50 million soums remained unchanged, and loans from 50–100 million soums decreased by 8 percentage points.

For legal entities, loans up to 50 million soums accounted for 8 percent, 50–100 million soums for 7 percent, 100–200 million soums for 48 percent, 200–300 million soums for 27 percent, and over 300 million soums for 11 percent. By the end of the third quarter, the share of loans under 50 million soums and over 300 million soums increased by 2 percentage points, loans of 100–200 million soums and 200–300 million soums grew by 1 percentage point, while loans from 50–100 million soums declined by 6 percentage points.

In September 2025, microfinance organizations provided loans to individuals at interest rates ranging from 40.3 to 109.5 percent, and to individual entrepreneurs and legal entities at rates of 24–65 percent. The average annual rates were 54.8 percent for individuals and 47.9 percent for businesses.

In September 2025, 0.01 percent of microloans to individuals were issued at the minimum rate of 29 percent per annum (85 million soums), and 1.3 percent at the maximum rate of 109.5 percent per annum (8.7 billion soums). Among microloans to legal entities and individual entrepreneurs, 2.1 percent were at the minimum rate of 24 percent per annum (900 million soums), and 0.03 percent at the maximum rate of 65 percent per annum (15 million soums).

In pawnshops, interest rates on microloans to individuals in September ranged from 60 to 109.5 percent per annum, with the average rate for the year at 97.2 percent. During this period, 0.1 percent of microloans (287 million soums) were issued at the minimum rate of 60 percent, and 45.7 percent (116 billion soums) at the maximum rate of 109.5 percent.

The assets of microfinance organizations and pawnshops increased 1.5 times compared to the same period last year, reaching 10.6 trillion soums as of October 1, 2025. Assets of microfinance organizations grew by 3.3 trillion soums to 9.9 trillion soums, and pawnshop assets increased by 215 billion soums to 670 billion soums.

Loan portfolios accounted for 93 percent of the total assets of microfinance organizations and pawnshops (9.8 trillion soums). The growth in assets was driven by a 1.5-fold increase in the credit portfolios of non-bank credit institutions. By the end of the third quarter of 2025, microfinance organizations and pawnshops accounted for 1.7 percent of the total credit portfolio of all credit institutions in Uzbekistan.

By the end of the third quarter of 2025, the loan portfolio issued to individuals in Uzbekistan had increased 1.3 times over the past year, reaching 8.6 trillion soums. The loan portfolio of business entities expanded sixfold, totaling 1.2 trillion soums. Within this segment, microloans for entrepreneurs grew nearly 7.4 times to 1.1 trillion soums, the volume of factoring services rose 3.3 times to 137 billion soums, while leasing services declined by 26 percent to 8 billion soums.

The volume of non-performing loans (NPLs) in microfinance organizations as of October 1, 2025, amounted to 380 billion soums, or 4.1 percent of the portfolio, increasing by 196 billion soums, or 1.7 percentage points, since the beginning of the year. “Doubtful” loans grew 2.2 times to 185 billion soums, while “hopeless” loans rose 46 percent to 11 billion soums. Of the total problem loans, 344 billion soums (90 percent) were classified as doubtful, and 36 billion soums (10 percent) as hopeless. Microfinance organizations Tezkoin and Shaffof-Moliya accounted for 64 percent of problem loans, totaling 107 billion and 138 billion soums, respectively. The NPL coverage ratio by the end of the third quarter of 2025 was 55 percent, 2 percentage points lower than at the beginning of the year.

Total liabilities of microfinance organizations and pawnshops increased 1.5 times by the end of the third quarter, reaching 7.1 trillion soums. Liabilities of microfinance organizations grew by 54 percent to 6.9 trillion soums, while pawnshop liabilities increased by 45 percent to 146 billion soums.

The structure of microfinance organizations’ liabilities is distributed as follows: 16 percent (1.1 trillion soums) from founders’ capital, 31 percent (2.1 trillion soums) from commercial banks, 5 percent (390 billion soums) from international financial institutions, 28 percent (1.9 trillion soums) from local companies, 4 percent (281 billion soums) from bond issuance, and 16 percent (1.1 trillion soums) from other obligations. Notable growth occurred in funds attracted from local companies, which rose 4.2 times to 1.455 trillion soums, bond issuance funds increased 2.9 times to 185 billion soums, founders’ capital grew 35 percent to 294 billion soums, international financial institution resources rose 19 percent to 61 billion soums, and commercial bank resources grew 4 percent to 77 billion soums.

Pawnshop liabilities as of October 1, 2025, increased 1.4 times year-on-year to 146 billion soums, with 62 percent (91 billion soums) sourced from founders’ capital, 14 percent (20 billion soums) attracted from commercial banks, and 24 percent (35 billion soums) from other obligations. Within these liabilities, founders’ funds rose 2.3 times to 51 billion soums, commercial bank resources increased 3 percent to 1 billion soums, while other obligations decreased by 14 percent to 6 billion soums.

The total capital of microfinance organizations and pawnshops grew 1.4 times, or 1.1 trillion soums, reaching 3.5 trillion soums as of October 1, 2025. Microfinance organizations’ capital increased 1.4 times to 3 trillion soums, while pawnshop capital grew 1.5 times to 524 billion soums.

The growth of microfinance organizations’ capital was supported by an increase in authorized capital of 551 billion soums (48 percent), current year profits of 67 billion soums (13 percent), reserve capital of 34 billion soums (35 percent), retained earnings of 230 billion soums (72 percent), and additional capital of 9 billion soums. Pawnshop capital growth was driven by an increase in authorized capital of 57 billion soums (57 percent), current year profits of 47 billion soums (37 percent), retained earnings of 64 billion soums (55 percent), and reserve capital of 2 billion soums (18 percent).

By the third quarter of 2025, the authorized capital of microfinance organizations with foreign participation had increased 2.9 times to 172 billion soums, and in pawnshops 3.7 times to 49 billion soums.

For January–September 2025, total revenues of microfinance organizations and pawnshops amounted to 3.7 trillion soums, total expenses to 3 trillion soums, resulting in net profit of 762 billion soums. Microfinance organizations reported 3.4 trillion soums in revenues, 2.8 trillion soums in expenses, and net profit of 590 billion soums, while pawnshops recorded 363 billion soums in revenues, 191 billion soums in expenses, and 172 billion soums in net profit.

Return on assets (ROA) in microfinance organizations decreased by 0.1 percentage points compared to the third quarter of 2024, standing at 19 percent as of the reporting date. Return on equity (ROE), however, increased by 2.2 percentage points year-on-year, reaching 38.5 percent by the end of the third quarter of 2025. This situation reflects a disproportionate growth in net profit relative to assets and capital. Average total assets and capital of microfinance organizations grew 1.7 and 1.4 times, respectively, compared to Q3 2024, while net profit increased by 50 percent.

In pawnshops, ROA declined 1.8 percentage points year-on-year, reaching 55.4 percent as of October 1, 2025, and ROE decreased by 0.6 percentage points to 51.9 percent.