Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The total volume of transactions in the domestic foreign exchange market of Uzbekistan made up US$8.2 billion in the first half of 2020, having increased by 1.8 and 1.2 times compared to the corresponding periods of 2018 and 2019, respectively. The Central Bank of Uzbekistan said in a report.

The demand for foreign currency from legal entities in the first 6 months of 2020 increased by 7% compared to the same period of last year and amounted to US$6.5 billion (in January-June 2019 - US$6.1 billion).

In the reporting period, business entities purchased foreign currency in the amount of US$1.6 billion in the over-the-counter foreign exchange market (in January-June 2019 - US$1.4 billion), the volume of transactions on the currency exchange made up US$4.9 billion (in January-June 2019 - US$4.7 billion).

In the target structure of buying foreign currency, the main share (63%) is payment for the import of equipment, goods and raw materials for industrial purposes, 21% - imports of consumer goods and medicines, 13% - repayment of foreign loans and the remaining 3% were purchased for other purposes.

The average monthly number of economic entities that purchased foreign currency in the domestic foreign exchange market in January-June 2020 reacjed 6253, practically remaining at the level of the corresponding indicator of the previous year (6153).

The volume of foreign currency sold by individuals since the beginning of this year made up US$2.2 billion, an increase over the corresponding period last year by 1.6 times or US$797 million.

At the same time, individuals purchased foreign currency in the amount of US$1.7 billion, which is more than 3.1 times higher than the volume of purchased foreign exchange funds in the same period of 2019.

In January-June of this year, US$2.4 billion was received through international money transfer systems, which is 6% or US$160 million less than in January-June of last year. At the same time, the volume of money transfers in June of this year increased in relation to May of this year. by 27% and amounted to US$621 million.

The total supply of foreign currency in the foreign exchange market (excluding the intervention of the Central Bank) in the first half of 2020 made up US$4.3 billion, having decreased by 4% compared to the same period of last year.

In the reporting period, economic entities sold US$2.7 billion, which is slightly lower than the indicator for the corresponding period of 2019 (US$2.8 billion).

Foreign exchange interventions by the Central Bank in the reporting period were based on the principle of neutrality of gold and foreign exchange reserves.

Since the beginning of this year, the volume of foreign exchange interventions of the Central Bank made up US$2.2 billion and was within the volume of monetary gold purchased during this period from domestic producers.

In the structure of sources of financing for imports, in January-June 2020, the share of funds acquired (conversion) in the domestic foreign exchange market made up 58%, the share of financing imports at the expense of own funds in foreign currency - 21%. In the corresponding period of 2019, these indicators were 50% and 23%, respectively.

The dynamics of the exchange rate of the national currency in the first half of this year was formed based on the fundamental factors of supply and demand in the domestic foreign exchange market, as well as under the influence of external factors.

In particular, the exchange rate of the national currency has depreciated by 7.2% since the beginning of the year and by 0.4% in June 2020.