OREANDA-NEWS. July 24, 2009. As a result of the still ongoing global financial and economic crisis, a number of the largest banks and financial institutions in some countries went bankrupt or are on the verge of bankruptcy, causing serious damage to the functioning of these countries' economies.

To prevent such negative phenomena, Uzbekistan has long before the financial crisis, to be more precise – since 2000, paid particular attention to ensuring the financial stability and increase the capitalization of commercial banks.

The measures adopted in 2008 provided an increase of the volumes of capital of 8 leading commercial banks, which constitute three-quarters of the banking system, by 42%. By 2010, that figure should double.

The total capital of the banking system of Uzbekistan in the first half of 2009 grew 1.5 times against the same period of last year and amounted to 2.335 trillion soums as of 1 July.

The capital adequacy of the banks comprises 23.4%, which is almost 3 times higher than the generally accepted international standards of the Basel Committee (8%).

The total current liquidity of the banking system of Uzbekistan in US dollars exceeds US1.7 billion, which is 10 times more than the banks current liabilities on foreign payments in 2009.

This once again demonstrates the reliability of the banking system of Uzbekistan in the conditions of the global financial crisis.

At the time when in some countries the rating of the majority of top banks is being revised downwards, the support of the financial system by the state and effective banking supervision have allowed Uzbekistan's commercial banks to receive positive ratings from leading rating agencies.

In particular, 13 commercial banks have received "stable" ratings from the leading international rating companies, such as Fitch Ratings, Moody's and Standard & Poor's. These include:

The National Bank for Foreign Economic Activity, Qishlok Qurilish Bank, Asakabank, Turonbank, Ipoteka Bank, Credit-Standard Bank, Aloqabank (Moody's);

Agrobank, Uzpromstroybank, Hamkorbank, Asakabank, Ipak Yuli Bank and Mikrokreditbank (Fitch Ratings); and

The National Bank for Foreign Economic Activity and Kapitalbank (Standard & Poor's).

During the first half of this year, 8 banks were assigned "stable" rating: the National Bank, Asakabank, Turonbank and Aloqabank (Moody's); Mikrokreditbank, Agrobank and Uzpromstroybank (Fitch Ratings); and Kapitalbank (Standard & Poor's).

The Director of the International Monetary Fund Dominique Strauss-Kann, who visited Uzbekistan earlier this year, noted: "The course of reforms Uzbekistan follows, which differ from the approach of other countries, has proved its advantages. The banking system of Uzbekistan has not experienced the negative impact of the global financial crisis, it is operating stably. The Government of Uzbekistan has set the goal of achieving even higher growth rate this year, but in any case, the economic growth in the current year in Uzbekistan will be among the highest in the world."

The work on attraction of funds for deposits and the introduction of new attractive deposits carried out by the commercial banks has contributed to the further growth of savings of the people and legal entities in the banks.

In general, during the six months the volume of deposits in credit institutions increased 1.8 times, and their amount as of 1 July made up 2.19 trillion soums.

The volume of assets of commercial banks, which is calculated with inclusion of the formed reserves, has exceeded 14.865 trillion soums, which is about 2 times more than the volume of deposits of the population and the economic entities.

Given the greatly increased volume of bank assets in the country, a 100% state guarantee is provided on all bank deposits of the population.

In the framework of the Anti-crisis program, the commercial banks have taken measures to ensure stable operation and increase the export potential of the real sector of the economy.

To date, 78 bankrupt enterprises were purchased by the banks for financial recovery. Of them, 30 enterprises were sold to new investors after technical and technological reequipment and restoration of production.

The new owners have invested over 85 billion soums in the acquired companies and created some 9,000 new jobs.

The volume of soft loans allocated to exporting enterprises for replenishment of their working capital for the period of up to 12 months at the annual rate of 9.8% (70% of the refinancing rate of Central Bank) has exceeded 81 billion soums.

29 largest strategic exporting enterprises have been able to restructure their bank loans totaling 122.6 billion soums.

The volume of credits issued by the banks in the first half of 2009 to small businesses and private entrepreneurs increased 1.7 times to 937 billion soums compared to the same period of 2008.

The volume of micro-credits issued to private entrepreneurs has increased 3 times and reached 190 billion soums.