Uzbekistan has embarked on a rapid process of economic modernization and integration with the rest of the world, utilizing its strong net external and fiscal asset positions in the process. We expect both positions to weaken through to 2022, but remain relatively strong in a global context. During the same period, we forecast continued progress with institutional and economic reforms, which should ultimately strengthen governance and expand the production capacity of the economy. We are affirming our 'BB-' long-term and 'B' short-term issuer credit ratings with a stable outlook. The stable outlook reflects our expectation that, over the next year, Uzbekistan's fiscal and external positions will remain strong but decline slightly, due to current account deficits and government borrowing. We
