Problems of Developing the Securities Market in the Region

The article identifies and systematizes the obstacles that slow the development of the securities market in Uzbekistan and, in particular, in its peripheral regions, using the Republic of Karakalpakstan as the regional case. The study uses a mixed desk-based design: (i) a theory-grounded review of the finance–growth and law-and-finance literature; (ii) an indicator analysis of the four dimensions of financial-market development (depth, access, efficiency, stability) based on official and institutional data from the National Agency of Prospective Projects (NAPP), the National Statistics Committee, CEIC, the AIFC and the U.S. Department of State; (iii) a benchmark comparison with Kazakhstan; and (iv) a structured problem matrix that links each constraint to the strength of available evidence. Primary-market volumes have expanded quickly: corporate bond issuance reported by NAPP rose from 1.06 trillion UZS in 2023 to 3.93 trillion UZS in 2025 and exceeded 7 trillion UZS by 1 July 2026. Yet depth and liquidity remain shallow: about 4 trillion UZS of free exchange trading against roughly 275 trillion UZS of securities in circulation (about 1.5%), only around 800,000 brokerage accounts of which fewer than 10% are active, and a market-capitalization-to-GDP ratio of 6.7% for listed companies in 2024 on the AIFC definition. Karakalpakstan produces only 2.8–3.1% of national GDP, grew more slowly than the country in January–September 2025 (6.1% vs 7.6%), and has a GRP per capita well below the national level. Five groups of constraints are identified: a thin issuer base, weak and unstable institutions, low household participation, centralized infrastructure, and high-rate bank-dominated financing. The paper offers a regional diagnostic framework for a securities market in a transition economy where regional-level securities statistics are not published, and it derives a sequenced policy agenda for peripheral regions.