Japan to provide loan of over $246 mln to support reforms in Uzbekistan

TASHKENT. Feb 22 (Interfax) - Japan will provide Uzbekistan with a loan of over $246.2 million to support the country's economic and social development, the press service for the Japanese embassy in Tashkent said.

"Japanese Ambassador to Uzbekistan Hattori Takashi and Uzbekistan's First Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance Ilkhom Norkulov signed exchange notes to provide a 37-billion-yen (about $246.235 million) loan as part of the Program to Support Sustainable Economic and Social Development," the embassy said.

A loan agreement for the project was signed by Norkulov and Bito Yoshibumi, the head of the Japan International Cooperation Agency's office in Uzbekistan, it said.

The 30-year loan includes a 10-year grace period, with a fixed interest rate of 1.8% annually, according to the document.

"The goal of the project is to support the continuous implementation of economic reforms as part of Uzbekistan's transition to a market economy, as well as help bolster social integration and stability by supporting vulnerable groups of the population," the embassy said.

Japan announced at the 9th Meeting of Foreign Ministers of the Japan-Central Asia Dialogue in December 2022 that cooperation would be established and would develop in line with a new model emphasizing "investment in people" and "quality of growth" in order to achieve sustainable development in a free and open Central Asia, the embassy said.