Uzbekistan devalues currency by close to half

Ex-soviet Uzbekistan has devalued its national currency by nearly 50 percent in an effort to entice more foreign investors after two decades of isolation.

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, who came to power after Islam Karimov’s death last year, has ordered the national currency’s rate with the dollar to be determined by the market.

Uzbekistan’s central bank showed on its website yesterday the dollar costing 8,100 soms, close to twice its previous official value of 4,210 soms and even more than the black market rate of 7,700 soms.

The move came as the Central Asian country looks set to open itself up to foreign investors after more than two decades of isolation and protectionism under Karimov.

The devaluation, which was announced late Monday, appears to put an end to the de facto two-tier system for currency exchange in which black market dealers wielded major influence over the highly regulated economy.

The move will be welcomed by companies working with international markets who were forced to sell their foreign reserves at the miserly government rate under the old system.

On Sunday, a decree published on the presidential website called for the “exclusive use of market mechanisms in determining the exchange rate of the national currency in relation to foreign currency” and said citizens and companies would be able to purchase “unlimited” amounts of foreign currency.

The same decree acknowledged that old foreign currency regulations in the country had “created an inefficient system of privileges and preferences for individual industries and business entities”.

Highly-placed government officials were long rumoured to pull the strings in the lucrative black market for foreign exchange.

While Mirziyoyev has praised the legacy of Karimov, under whom he served as prime minister for 13 years, he has also moved to distance himself from Karimov’s authoritarian excesses and tried to tempt investors towards the commodity-rich republic.