Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) – Khalq Bank (The People’s Bank) of Uzbekistan has temporarily suspended the issuance of commercial loans, the bank said in a statement.

According to the bank, this is due to an increase in the share of problem loans. The bank’s message notes that the bank will resume issuing commercial loans at the expense of the returned funds in the coming days.

Khalq Bank notes that this restriction did not apply to concessional loans provided under government programs.

"It should be noted that loans in this direction are issued at the expense of funds returned to the branches, which do not have many problem loans," the message says.

According to the Central Bank of Uzbekistan, the volume of problem loans of the People’s Bank as of July 1, 2021 is 3.2 trillion. soums or 15% of the bank’s loan portfolio (about 21.35 trillion soums).