BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 10
By Fakhri Vakilov - Trend:
Uzbekistan’s Central Bank has disclosed data on the purchase and sale of currency by population and legal entities last year, Trend reports citing Central Bank.
“The domestic foreign exchange market in 2019 was formed in the context of increase in the volume of operations and the number of participants in all segments. In general, the total volume of operations in the domestic foreign exchange market amounted to $15.5 billion, an increase of 1.4 and 2.2 times compared to 2018 and 2017, respectively," the Central Bank said.
In 2019, $3.8 billion were sold through foreign exchange offices by individuals versus $2.7 billion in 2018 (an increase of 41 percent), $1.8 billion were bought (in 2018, $975 million).
The balance of foreign exchange transactions between banks and individuals on the purchase and sale of foreign currency amounted to $2 billion, which is 16 percent (or $276 million) more than in 2018.
Moreover despite a seasonal decrease in money transfers, in December the historical maximum was recorded for the sale ($500 million) and the purchase ($305 million) by individuals of cash foreign currency, which may be explained by the intensification of repayment of financial obligations by the population and entrepreneurs traditionally implementing them by the end of the year.
In 2019, the demand for foreign currency from legal entities increased by 32 percent compared to 2018 ($10.4 billion) and amounted to $13.7 billion.
Furthermore, the total volume of over-the-counter transactions for the purchase of foreign currency by households increased 3.8 times and reached $3.2 billion (in 2018 - $845 million). At the same time, the volume of exchange operations grew by 10 percent ($10.5 billion).
An analysis of the structure for the purchase of foreign currency shows that the bulk (72 percent) of the purchased currency was used to pay for the import of equipment, goods and raw materials for industrial purposes, 15 percent for imports of consumer goods and medicines, 9 percent for repayment of foreign loans, 2 percent - repatriation of income and 2 percent - for other purposes.
The number of business entities-buyers of foreign currency funds increased by 1.5 times during 2019, and by the end of the year reached 7,600 compared to 5,100 in December 2018.
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