Uzbekistan's fiscal and external debt levels have been increasing faster than we anticipated. We expect fiscal borrowing and the current account deficit will remain high in 2020 as the government funds investment and modernization plans and the fight against COVID-19. By year-end 2020, we estimate that the economy's liquid external assets will no longer cover gross external debt, as the government continues borrowing from abroad. We are revising our outlook on Uzbekistan to negative from stable and affirming our 'BB-/B' ratings. On June 5, 2020, S&P Global Ratings revised the outlook on its long-term ratings on Uzbekistan to negative from stable. At the same time, we affirmed the 'BB-/B' foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings, and the 'BB-' transfer
