World Bank Portfolio in Uzbekistan Nears $16bn

Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and World Bank Group President Ajay Banga discussed widening their partnership on Wednesday 11 November 2026, with the joint project portfolio now approaching $16 billion, according to the Uzbek national news agency UZA. The talks took place on the sidelines of the COP31 climate conference in Antalya, Türkiye.

The talks included preparations for a larger event next month. The two sides prepared the Forum on the Mid-Term Review of International Development Association (IDA) resources, due in Tashkent in December.

Priorities agreed

According to UzDaily, the priority areas were the jobs and growth programme, a new Country Partnership Framework, private investment in infrastructure, privatisation and water security. Trend reported the same list, citing the presidential press service. None of the accounts we reviewed gives financing amounts, dates for the new framework or a list of state assets earmarked for sale, so those details remain open.

What the portfolio funds

The Bank's own event page offers examples. The Rural Infrastructure Development Project in the Ferghana Valley has financed more than 900 subprojects across 306 mahallas (neighbourhood communities), benefiting nearly one million rural residents. The Second Rural Enterprise Development Project in Samarkand supports more than 15,000 micro, small and medium enterprises and has helped create 12,000 jobs. The same page says Uzbekistan's national poverty rate fell from 17% of the population in 2021 to 5.8% in 2025, and that the economy grew from $83 billion to $121 billion.

These are the Bank's claims, not independent audits, and the page does not separate the contribution of its own lending from that of wider reforms.

Context

The portfolio has grown steadily. On 29 June, the presidential website reported that Mirziyoyev met a Bank delegation led by Vice President Antonella Bassani, when the portfolio had passed $15 billion. That meeting noted that the Bank's Tashkent regional office was operating and that new financing tools were being introduced. It also named support for small businesses, privatisation of state-owned enterprises, artificial intelligence adoption and water sector financing.

CBJ reported this week that the EBRD portfolio in Uzbekistan topped $7 billion, so the World Bank remains the larger of the two lenders by the numbers published.

Analysis

Three items on the agreed list tie together. A new Country Partnership Framework is the Bank's multi-year strategy for a country, so it will shape where the next round of lending goes. Privatisation and private infrastructure investment are reform areas where development lenders often pair finance with policy commitments. Water security is the area most exposed to climate pressure, which fits the COP31 setting of the meeting.

The rise from more than $15 billion in June to nearly $16 billion in November is up to roughly a billion dollars in about four and a half months, though the sources do not say whether this reflects new approvals or revised accounting. Readers should treat the figure as an official headline number rather than a disbursed total.

What to watch

The IDA21 Mid-Term Review starts in Tashkent on 5 December, according to the Bank. Watch for an announcement on the timetable of the new Country Partnership Framework, any privatisation pipeline made public alongside the forum, and whether the portfolio figure crosses $16 billion.

Sources: UZA; UzDaily; Trend; World Bank; President of Uzbekistan

Image: Caucasus Business Journal archive