Remittances reach $18.9 billion: a chance to channel migrant money to women entrepreneurs
According to the Central Bank of Uzbekistan, remittances reached $18.9 billion in 2025; a program by IFAD, the EU and Hamkorbank aims to direct that money into rural small businesses.
According to the Central Bank of Uzbekistan, remittances into the country reached $18.9 billion in 2025 — 28% ($4.1 billion) more than in 2024. According to the World Bank, remittances equal roughly 14% of GDP, placing Uzbekistan among the economies most dependent on remittances in the world.
The gap in women's businesses
According to the World Bank, women in Uzbekistan own between a quarter and a third of registered small and medium-sized enterprises, yet receive only about 14% of the loans made to those businesses. Estimates vary by source and year.
The IFAD, EU and Hamkorbank program
In March 2026, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the European Union and Hamkorbank launched a €6 million program. It pilots a remittance-based credit-scoring model within the Central Bank's regulatory sandbox, targets about 4,000 remittance-receiving households and returning migrants, and provides business and financial-literacy training to 900 rural residents (at least 50% women) and mentoring to 100.
Why it matters
The program's goal is to channel the remittances flowing to families not only into consumption but into rural small businesses and durable income sources. Remittances remain an important source of external income for Uzbekistan's economy.
