塔什干/伦敦，10月6日电：当尼卡·库尔迪亚尼在2018年前后开始筹划伦敦上市的格鲁吉亚贷款机构TBC银行向乌兹别克斯坦扩张时，他不得不提着装满钞票的塑料袋去支付餐厅账单。
TASHKENT/LONDON, Oct 6 : When Nika Kurdiani began to plot London-listed Georgian lender TBC Bank's expansion into Uzbekistan around 2018, he had to bring plastic bags full of banknotes to pay restaurant bills.
这个拥有近4000万人口的国家——中亚人口最多的国家——长期以来因严格的资本管制而对外国投资基本关闭。其货币苏姆被人为高估，信用卡极少被接受，迫使消费者随身携带大量现金进行日常购物。
The country of nearly 40 million people — Central Asia's most populous — had long been largely closed to foreign investment by strict capital controls. Its currency, the sum, was artificially overvalued and credit cards rarely accepted, forcing consumers to carry wads of cash for everyday purchases.
但在近十年的经济改革帮助增长超越大多数前苏联同行后，数字支付已无处不在。作为在仍以国有为主的银行业中为数不多的外资贷款机构之一，TBC乌兹别克斯坦银行正考虑进行独立于其格鲁吉亚母行的首次公开募股（IPO）上市。
But after almost a decade of economic reform that has helped growth outpace that of most ex-Soviet peers, digital payments are ubiquitous. TBC Uzbekistan, one of few foreign lenders operating in a still mostly state-owned banking sector, is considering an initial public offering (IPO) separate from its Georgian parent.
“现在在全国任何地方都完全不需要携带现金了，”TBC乌兹别克斯坦业务首席执行官库尔迪亚尼在该行塔什干总部接受路透社采访时表示。这些变化已开始吸引国际投资者。
"Now there is no need whatsoever to carry cash anywhere in the country," Kurdiani, CEO of TBC's Uzbekistan business, told Reuters in an interview at the bank's Tashkent headquarters. The changes have begun to attract international investors.
5月，由富兰克林邓普顿管理的乌兹别克斯坦国家投资基金——一个持有国有企业少数股权的投资组合——在伦敦证券交易所筹集了6.9亿美元，这是自2021年以来该交易所最大的IPO，吸引了超过28亿美元的订单。
In May, Uzbekistan's National Investment Fund, a portfolio of minority stakes in state-owned companies managed by Franklin Templeton, raised $690 million in the London Stock Exchange's biggest IPO since 2021, drawing over $2.8 billion in orders.
“我们认为这些改革意义重大，且他们对市场惯例的开放程度大大提高，”T. Rowe Price固定收益投资组合经理Leonard Kwan表示，该机构对乌兹别克斯坦持超配仓位。
"The reforms have been meaningful in our view, and they are much more open towards market practices," said Leonard Kwan, a fixed-income portfolio manager at T. Rowe Price, which is overweight Uzbekistan.
但随着政府表示将推进进一步私有化，投资者称下一个考验是：在一个市场导向政策仍相对较新且其持久力不明的国家，亲商变革能否扎根。
But as the government says it will push ahead with further privatisations, investors say the next test is whether business-friendly changes can become embedded in a country where market-oriented policies remain relatively new and their staying power unclear.
“该国面临的最大风险是所有这些改革的可持续性及其执行的一致性，”库尔迪亚尼表示。
"The biggest risk the country has is the sustainability of all those reforms and the consistency of their implementation," said Kurdiani.
自2016年Shavkat Mirziyoyev总统上任以来推出的快速增长的政策已经开放了一个在1991年独立后基本上避开外部世界的国家。
FAST-GROWING Policies launched since President Shavkat Mirziyoyev took office in 2016 have opened up a country that had largely shunned the outside world following independence in 1991.
资本管制已经解除，货币已经浮动，对大多数西方游客的签证规定也有所放松。
Capital controls have been lifted, the currency has been floated and visa rules eased for most Western visitors.
“这个国家实际上是封闭的。它对投资者和游客关闭，”乌兹别克斯坦投资部长Laziz Kudratov告诉路透社库德拉托夫说，改革“导致正在寻找新市场和新增长机会的外国投资者将注意力转向乌兹别克斯坦，并开始积极扩大在这里的业务”。过去五年，乌兹别克斯坦经济平均增长约6%，快于大多数邻国。
"The country was effectively closed. It was closed to investors, to visitors," Laziz Kudratov, Uzbekistan's investment minister, told Reuters. The reforms "led foreign investors, who are seeking new markets and new growth opportunities, to turn their attention to Uzbekistan and begin actively expanding their operations here," Kudratov said. The Uzbek economy has grown by an average of around 6 per cent over the last five years, faster than most of its neighbours.
根据世界银行和联合国的数据，外国直接投资从2021年的23亿美元增至2025年的44亿美元，尽管其占国内生产总值的比例仍然相对较小。
Foreign direct investment rose to $4.4 billion in 2025 from $2.3 billion in 2021, according to World Bank and United Nations data, although it remains relatively modest as a share of gross domestic product.
国有企业仍然主导银行、能源和采矿等关键行业。根据国际货币基金组织的数据，截至2024年底，他们的资产占GDP的100%以上--按照国际标准，这是一个非常大的足迹。
State-owned enterprises still dominate key sectors like banking, energy and mining. Their assets amounted to more than 100 per cent of GDP at end-2024 according to the International Monetary Fund — a very large footprint by international standards.
包括国家黄金和铀矿商在内的一些公司表示，他们可能会在5月份国家投资基金IPO后探索在伦敦上市，但没有给出具体的时间表。
Some — including the national gold and uranium miners — have said they may explore London listings following May's National Investment Fund IPO, without giving specific timelines.
金融科技集团Uzum、超市Korzinka和乌兹别克斯坦航空也表示，他们可能会寻求外国IPO。
Fintech group Uzum, supermarket Korzinka and Uzbekistan Airways have also said they might pursue foreign IPOs.
官僚主义惯性投资者认为回归过去孤立主义政策的风险很小。相反，许多人关注的是改革是否能够制度化并继续下去，尽管遭到部分官僚机构的抵制。
BUREAUCRATIC INERTIA Investors see little risk of a return to the isolationist policies of the past. Instead, many are focused on whether reforms can become institutionalised and continue despite resistance from parts of the bureaucracy.
“乌兹别克斯坦最高层坚定致力于改革和经济自由化，”伦敦咨询公司Letthighter的分析师达科他·欧文（Dakota Irvin）表示。
"There is strong commitment to reform and economic liberalisation at the highest levels in Uzbekistan," said Dakota Irvin, an analyst at London-based consultancy Lamplighter. "But there are issues with implementation.
“但实施存在问题。乌兹别克斯坦的国家官僚机构仍然保守且不愿改变，有迹象表明，一些投资者在项目启动方面遇到了延误或困难。“评级机构穆迪6月份表示，改革的任何放缓都可能给乌兹别克斯坦的信用评级带来压力。
Uzbekistan's state bureaucracy remains conservative and averse to change, and there are signs that some investors are experiencing delays or difficulty in getting projects off the ground." Ratings agency Moody's said in June that any slowdown in reforms was among factors that could put pressure on Uzbekistan's credit rating.
欧文表示，私有化计划的大部分内容是通过总统令而不是发达的立法框架推动的，这让一些投资者担心法律保护和改革的长期持久性。
Irvin said much of the privatisation programme has been driven through presidential decrees rather than a developed legislative framework, leaving some investors concerned about legal protections and the long-term durability of reforms.
政治权力仍然集中在米尔济约耶夫周围，他的女儿赛达（Saida）一直是改革议程的公众形象，领导着总统政府，并监督今年在塔什干启动的经济特区。
Political authority remains concentrated around Mirziyoyev, with his daughter, Saida — who has served as the public face of the reform agenda — heading the presidential administration and overseeing a special economic zone launched in Tashkent this year.
商界领袖还提到了熟练工人短缺的问题，他们说，尽管中国人口年轻，但教育系统仍难以跟上私营部门的需求。即便如此，高管们认为，这一代人只知道一个更加开放的乌兹别克斯坦，因此任何回到过去的可能性都越来越小。
Business leaders also cite a shortage of skilled workers, saying the education system is struggling to keep pace with private-sector demand despite the country's youthful population. Even so, executives argue that a generation that has known only a more open Uzbekistan makes any return to the past increasingly unlikely.
“有一条线之后，有一个不归路，说：”TBC乌兹别克斯坦的库尔迪亚尼。“我认为乌兹别克斯坦已经越过了这条线。"
"There is a line after which there is a point of no return," said TBC Uzbekistan's Kurdiani. "I think Uzbekistan crossed that line already."