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Uzbekneftegaz intends to eliminate state-guaranteed loans from its credit portfolio by 2027, the state energy company’s first deputy chairman Suhrob Hamrayev announced at a press conference on 27 October — a shift that would mark a significant step in the firm’s effort to present itself as a commercially self-sufficient borrower to international markets.
Hamrayev said the company is in the process of refinancing the remaining $840 million in loans currently backed by government guarantees. If that refinancing is completed in the third or fourth quarters, no such instruments will remain on the books from 2027 onward. “We have stopped depending exclusively on the state,” he said, addressing questions about how the exit from state guarantees might affect the company’s credit rating.
Rating Agencies and the Market-Price Argument
Hamrayev said Uzbekneftegaz has held meetings with Fitch Ratings and S&P in which it made the case that its financial position is increasingly independent of government support. A central argument, he indicated, is that state-set prices for raw materials and finished products are gradually converging with market rates — reducing the implicit subsidy that ratings analysts have historically factored into their assessments of the company’s standalone creditworthiness.
He also pointed to the mechanics of unsecured lending as evidence of growing commercial credibility: banks extending credit without a government backstop, he noted, do so only after scrutinising the company’s financial performance over the preceding twelve months and six months. That scrutiny, in his framing, functions as a market endorsement that state guarantees previously made unnecessary.
Hamrayev expressed confidence that the steps underway would be reflected positively in future assessments by the international rating agencies.
Context: Eurobond Rollover Also Planned for 2027
The announcement comes alongside a separately reported plan by Uzbekneftegaz to roll over its first eurobond issuance in 2027, suggesting the company is preparing for a broader reconfiguration of its external debt profile in that year — moving away from sovereign-backed instruments and toward market-priced capital on its own balance sheet.