Uzbekistan Quality Job Creation as a Cornerstone for Sustainable Economic Growth

Private Sector Development and Access to Finance
155
4.2.3. financial infrastructure and legal frameworks
Sound financial systems require high-quality financial infrastructure to 
effectively reduce supply–demand gaps in finance, especially for SMEs. 
The essential infrastructure needed (Figure 4.16) includes (i) a credit data 
platform (a credit bureau), (ii) a secured lending legal system (a collateral 
registry), and (iii) credit guarantees. These are key components of the financial 
infrastructure needed to support financial institutions’ credit enhancement. 
The three components should be supplemented by a financial education 
system to facilitate active use of the infrastructure. To help close SMEs’ 
knowledge gaps about financial products and services, a systematic approach 
to financial education is needed, including digital finance literacy programs and
e-learning platforms.
Credit bureau.
Many developing Asian countries have made significant efforts 
to develop a national credit bureau. In Uzbekistan, a private sector credit 
bureau, the Credit Information Analytical Center (CIAC), was established in 
2012 and licensed by the CBU. The CIAC holds data on more than 9 million 
individuals and 620,000 organizations with a 5-year credit history, totaling 
more than 2 billion records (half the data pertain to small businesses). The 
data are collected through the credit information exchange system from 28 
banks, 29 microcredit organizations, 45 pawnshops, and a leasing company. 
The CIAC is trying to expand its data sources to utility companies and the tax 
GDP = gross domestic product, PRC = People’s Republic of China.
Data for Pakistan: listed domestic companies (2014); market capitalization and stock traded (2016).
Sources: Republican Stock Exchange Tashkent. http://www.uzse.uz/; World Bank. World Development 
Indicators. http://www.databank.worldbank.org/; JETRO (2018).