(Adds central bank governor's comments)
TASHKENT, May 4 (Reuters) - Uzbekistan's central bank
kept its main interest rate unchanged at 14.0% on Thursday,
citing easing inflation, and upgraded its economic growth
outlook for this year.
At a briefing, the bank's governor also said it expected
remittances from Russia to decline this year due to a weaker
rouble, after hitting a record $16.9 billion in 2022.
The bank hiked the main interest rate from 14% to 17% last
year after Russia invaded Ukraine, destabilising markets across
the former Soviet region. It has since gradually brought the
rate down to the pre-war level and said on Thursday it would
next review its monetary policy on June 15.
The Central Asian nation's economy relies heavily on
remittances from millions of Uzbeks working abroad, mostly in
Russia. The volume of such transfers jumped last year as the
rouble strengthened on capital controls, but this year Russia's
currency has weakened significantly.
"The weakening of the rouble will also impact our situation,
and remittances coming from Russia," central bank Governor
Mamarizo Nurmuratov told a briefing. "Out of the $3 billion
remittances received during the first four months of 2023,
around 87% came from Russia."
Uzbekistan's trade deficit is projected to remain broadly
unchanged from last year's $1.9 billion, he said, while gross
domestic product could exceed an earlier forecast of between
4.5% and 5% by 0.5 to 1 percentage points.
"The updated forecast is based on the increased economic
activity we observed in the first quarter and the results of
some reforms started last year," Deputy Governor Behzod Hamroyev
said.
(Reporting by Mukhammadsharif Mamatkulov;
Writing by Olzhas Auyezov;
Editing by Alison Williams and Sharon Singleton)
Messaging: olzhas.auyezov.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
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