Commercial banks in Uzbekistan on September 7 raised the USD exchange rate against the Uzbekistani som (UZS) to a new high of UZS 12,200.
The cheapest dollars were sold by Tenge Bank at UZS 12,150. The average purchase rate among a group of lenders made up of NBU, Trastbank, Hamkorbank, Invest Finance Bank and Poytaxtbank was UZS 12,120. The exchange rate has been growing for almost two weeks.
On August 10, the US currency crossed the barrier of UZS 12,000 for the first time. The surge in the official exchange rate of UZS 400 that took it through the threshold was the sharpest experienced since the liberalisation of the FX market in 2018.
The regulator blamed the descent of the local currency on the recent big depreciation of the Russian ruble. Declines in export earnings and remittances from migrants in Russia led to a drop in dollars on the foreign exchange market.
At a July press conference, Uzbek central bank chairman Mamarizo Nurmuratov linked the growth in the strength of the dollar to pressure caused by increased imports. He called the current exchange rate a real reflection of foreign trade operations.
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