FINANCIAL LITERACY GAPS AND THEIR IMPACT ON CAPITAL MARKET DEVELOPMENT IN UZBEKISTAN
Keywords:
financial literacy, capital market development, Uzbekistan, retail investors, investment education, UZSEAbstract
Uzbekistan's capital market has undergone significant structural reform since 2017, yet retail investor participation remains strikingly low relative to the country's population of 38 million. This paper argues that financial literacy gaps — specifically the lack of basic investment knowledge among the general population — are a primary constraint on capital market growth in Uzbekistan. Drawing on publicly available market data, ADB research, and the author's direct experience as a retail investor in the Uzbek equity market, the paper identifies two core dimensions of the problem: a knowledge deficit (people do not understand financial instruments) and an access deficit (people do not know where or how to start investing). The paper examines recent government initiatives to address this gap, including Presidential Decree PD-291 (2023) and the 2024 retail investment incentive programme, and concludes with a policy recommendation centred on the integration of personal finance education into higher education curricula as the most structurally effective long-term intervention.
References
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