Improving the Creditworthiness of Small Businesses in Commercial Banks

This article presents a comprehensive analysis of how to improve small and medium-sized business lending practices in commercial banks in Uzbekistan. The study shows that the share of small and medium-sized businesses in the loan portfolio is significantly lower than in developed countries, primarily due to information asymmetries, excessive collateral requirements, and bureaucratic lending procedures. For the first time, a causal relationship between small and medium-sized business lending and the foreign trade balance, increased export potential, import substitution, and changes in the structure of technological imports is systematically substantiated