Uzbekistan will create a unified business support system with state guarantees and AI assistants.
Uzbekistan will create a comprehensive business support system, including state guarantees and artificial intelligence tools. President Shavkat Mirziyoyev announced this during an open dialogue with entrepreneurs, announcing new measures to simplify lending, implement AI technologies, and privatize state assets. The system is designed to support businesses at all stages—from start-up to reaching large-scale production.
One of the key innovations will be a "counter-guarantee" system aimed at addressing the problem of insufficient collateral. Entrepreneurs receiving loans of up to 10 billion soums will only need to provide collateral for 25% of the loan amount. The remaining 75% will be covered by the state, the Entrepreneurship Guarantee Company, and commercial banks.
Three specialized programs are being launched to support projects at various stages. The "Business Start" program, with a budget of 100 billion soums, is designed for aspiring entrepreneurs. Using artificial intelligence, it will assist with document preparation and offer ready-made business plans with unsecured loans of up to 200 million soums. The "Business Lift" program has been developed for existing businesses, and "Business Yuksalish" for companies in the scaling stage.
At the same time, the country already has a Unified Digital Portal for Credit Services, where banks compete for entrepreneurs' applications, and a "Virtual Tax Consultant" powered by artificial intelligence. Similar services are planned for the next year in the construction, foreign trade, and government services sectors. Aspiring entrepreneurs can already apply for online loans of up to 5 billion soums, while the share of small businesses in bank loan portfolios has reached 63%.
The terms for the purchase of state property have been significantly relaxed. The down payment has been reduced from 30% to 15%. A 25% discount is provided for full payment of the property within six months. If half the amount is paid, the remainder can be repaid interest-free over seven years. If a state-owned asset is not sold within three months, its starting price will gradually decrease, down to 10% of the original price. Auction deadlines have been halved.
"Our goal is not simply to provide loans to entrepreneurs, but to create a comprehensive system that will support them from their first steps to becoming a major business," the head of state emphasized.
It was previously reported that the size of Uzbekistan's entrepreneurial community had reached 1.2 million people.