Uzbekistan Launches Rural Finance Programme With IFAD And EU

(MENAFN- Trend News Agency) TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, March 10. The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the European Union and Uzbekistan's Hamkorbank have launched a programme to boost rural entrepreneurship and expand financial inclusion, Trend reports via EU.

The initiative will support nearly 4,000 remittance-receiving households and returning migrants by introducing a credit scoring model that recognizes remittances and savings as proof of repayment capacity, helping rural residents gain access to bank financing.

The project is being tested within the Central Bank of Uzbekistan's regulatory sandbox and is co-financed by the European Union under the REMIT PRIME Central Asia Programme.

“Recognizing remittances as a reliable source of income to prove creditworthiness can be transformational for rural families,” said Pedro de Vasconcelos, Manager of IFAD's Financing Facility for Remittances.

Hamkorbank, which serves about 900,000 remittance recipients, will implement the programme nationwide, with a focus on rural areas.

Meanwhile, in Uzbekistan, remittances remain a vital lifeline for many families, totalling $14.8 billion in 2024, representing well over 10% of the country's GDP. Yet rural communities and returnees face structural barriers to credit and business support, often leading to informal employment or re-migration. Uzbek REMIT aims to reverse this trend in line with Uzbekistan's National Development Strategy 2030, which prioritizes the economic reintegration of returnees.

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