Today, the Central Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan held, for the first time, the international forum “Monetary Policy Dialogue – 2026,” dedicated to the theme “Monetary Policy Amid Global Volatility and the Wave of Digitalization.”
The forum served as a platform for open professional dialogue among the heads of central banks, representatives of international financial organizations, leading global economists, and the academic community on the conduct of monetary policy under conditions of persistent global uncertainty, structural shifts in the world economy, and the rapid advancement of digital technologies.
Opening the forum, Chairman of the Central Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan Timur Ishmetov noted that the contemporary global economy is confronting a new reality, in which uncertainty is becoming a lasting feature of the economic environment, while digital transformation is exerting an increasingly significant influence on the functioning of financial systems and the work of central banks. Under these conditions, strengthening international cooperation, sharing practical experience, and fostering open professional dialogue among regulators, international financial institutions, and the academic community take on particular importance.
The forum’s keynote speaker was Professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management and former Governor of the Central Bank of Cyprus Athanasios Orphanides, who presented an expert perspective on the conduct of monetary policy under uncertainty, the role of analytical models, and the importance of high-quality economic data in central bank decision-making.
During the expert sessions, perspectives on the contemporary challenges of monetary policy were also shared by Bank of England Chief Economist Huw Pill, University of Oxford Professor Paul Fisher, Geneva Graduate Institute Professor Cédric Tille, Hitotsubashi University Professor Toshitaka Sekine, representatives of the International Monetary Fund and the Swiss National Bank, as well as the heads and representatives of the central banks of several countries. The discussions covered a wide range of issues — from the persistence of inflationary processes and the refinement of inflation-targeting regimes to the development of digital financial technologies, the application of artificial intelligence, the use of high-frequency data in economic analysis, and the strengthening of international cooperation among central banks.
During the plenary discussion, the Central Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan presented the results of the ongoing reforms in the area of monetary policy and the transition to an inflation-targeting regime. It was noted that inflation has declined from double-digit figures in 2018 to 5.5 percent as of May 2026, with core inflation at approximately 5.7 percent, while the inflation expectations of households and businesses have decreased substantially. The dollarization of deposits and loans continued to decline, reflecting growing confidence in the national currency and in the monetary policy being pursued.
Participants devoted particular attention to the digital transformation of the financial sector. The discussions examined the prospects for applying artificial intelligence and machine learning in macroeconomic analysis, inflation forecasting, banking supervision, and the development of payment infrastructure. At the same time, it was emphasized that the adoption of new technologies must be accompanied by stronger operational resilience, cybersecurity, and effective risk-management mechanisms.
The forum was attended by representatives of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), the central banks of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Liechtenstein, Poland, Serbia, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and other countries, as well as representatives of leading international research centers and universities.
