Uzbekistan Real Deposit Yields Rise Despite Nominal Drop
Uzbekistan Real Deposit Yields Rise Despite Nominal Drop
Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — The Central Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan released its April 2026 banking sector data on June 12, revealing that while nominal interest rates on savings have fallen, cooling inflation has driven real yields for everyday depositors sharply higher.
According to the regulator's statistical report, the average nominal interest rate for term deposits denominated in the national currency (the Uzbek sum) settled at 17.4%. This represents a notable year-on-year decline of 2.1 percentage points.
However, the headline nominal drop masks a major qualitative improvement in actual purchasing power for domestic savers. Due to the steady stabilization of inflationary pressures across the domestic economy, the real interest rate—the nominal payout adjusted for inflation—remains exceptionally high.
The performance of sum-denominated savings vehicles highlights a split trajectory between retail and corporate segments:
Individual Depositors: The real yield on retail bank deposits surged to 8.4%, marking an increase of 1.9 percentage points compared to the same period last year.
Corporate Entities: The real return on corporate accounts reached 4.3%, reflecting a minor year-on-year increase of 0.2 percentage points.
"The indicator dynamics point to a gradual adaptation of the deposit market to current macroeconomic conditions," the Central Bank stated in its analysis. "Furthermore, these yields are actively strengthening consumer confidence in long-term assets denominated in the national currency."
A parallel downward trend was documented in the foreign currency savings segment. The average nominal interest rate for foreign currency term deposits across commercial banks finished April at 4.1%.
Compared to April of last year, the average cost for commercial banks to attract and hold foreign currency deposits decreased by 0.6 percentage points, reflecting a broader structural shift away from dollarization in the domestic financial ecosystem.
