SMEs in Uzbekistan account for over half of the gross domestic product (GDP) and provide about two-thirds of formal and informal jobs.

The Lombard repo rate was raised to 9.25 percent from 8.75 percent and the deposit rate - to 6.25 percent from 5.75 percent.

S&P said that the negative outlook reflected the bank’s still high amount of problem loans, low earnings, and high loan concentrations.

Turlov aims to gradually reduce his share in the company’s stock to below 50 percent, in order to attract more, larger investments, particularly from the U.S.