This information was confirmed by one of the representatives of the Service, who also noted that during the inspection it was established that three pawnshop companies exceeded the permissible interest rates. Each of them was fined 28,000 soms.
At the end of last week, the owners of the pawnshops and their clients were summoned to the regional office of the GKNB in Jalal-Abad. During the meeting, it became clear that many pawnshops were imposing excessive surcharges on short-term loans, which, when calculated on an annual percentage basis, exceeded legal norms. The owners were urged to cease such practices and were warned about the consequences of non-compliance with the law.
In response to these statements, some pawnshop owners reported that they mainly issue loans against gold items and promised to adhere to the established rates. However, several of them expressed their intention to close their pawnshops.
Elmurat Dubanaev, a resident of the Suzak district who has been using pawnshop services for many years, shared his borrowing experience. According to him, he used to pay up to 5 soms a day for 1,000 soms, but in recent years it has been 3 soms. Now, having learned about the reduction in rates, he hopes for relief for people.
“I took loans for amounts up to 100,000 soms, pawned my car, and later redeemed it. Some could not return their pawned cars. Everyone turns to help because this is an important service. It’s good that the government is intervening and lowering the interest rates,” he added.
According to Zhanibek Keneshov, the chief specialist of the Southern Region of the Service for Regulation and Supervision of the Financial Market, there are 48 registered pawnshops in the Jalal-Abad region, of which two have licenses to accept cars as collateral.
“Previously, there were no restrictions on interest rates until the first half of 2024, and all conditions were determined by agreement between clients and pawnshop owners. Starting from 2024, the annual interest rate should not exceed 30%. Unfortunately, some owners set rates above 70%. Three of them were fined 28,000 soms each,” he noted.
Now clients obtaining loans from pawnshops can expect a rate of 0.83 tyiyn per day for every 1,000 soms.
Earlier, the chairman of the GKNB, Kamchybek Tashiev, emphasized that high-interest rates in pawnshops had become a problem for many citizens, which was the reason for the inspection.
- As of today, there are 431 pawnshops operating in Kyrgyzstan.
