"Uzbekistan views the economic future with optimism" - First Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance
2025-05-05 18:20:00 / СМИ о нас
Despite the presence of new global threats and uncertainties in the world economy, Uzbekistan remains committed to its course of reforms. This was announced by Ilhom Norkulov, First Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance of Uzbekistan, at the opening of the 58th annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank in Milan on May 5, as reported by a Gazeta.uz correspondent.
According to him, the reforms initiated in 2017 allowed the country to overcome serious external shocks - the COVID-19 pandemic, geopolitical instability, trade tensions in the global economy, and fluctuations in foreign markets.
"Thanks to strong leadership and political will to implement complex but vitally necessary macroeconomic reforms, our GDP has doubled since 2018, reaching $115 billion in 2024, and GDP per capita has exceeded $3,000," he said.
As Norkulov emphasized, these achievements were made possible through close cooperation with international partners, especially the Asian Development Bank, which has allocated more than $5.4 billion to Uzbekistan for priority development areas over the past five years.
"We also received significant technical assistance from ADB in supporting small and medium-sized businesses, environmental transition, and enhancing institutional capacity within the framework of preparing and implementing reform programs," he said.
Based on the partnership strategy with ADB for 2024-2028, Uzbekistan continues close cooperation with the bank and other stakeholders within the framework of a shared vision to transform Uzbekistan into a more sustainable, inclusive, and "green" economy.
New targets: growth to $5,000 per capita and sustainable development
According to Ilhom Norkulov, Uzbekistan "maintains optimism regarding its economic future": the updated national goal is to increase GDP per capita to $5,000 by 2030 (with a total GDP of $200 billion), despite the persistence of global uncertainty.
"We understand that this is an ambitious goal, but we believe in our potential and ability to achieve it. We forecast economic growth of at least 6% in 2025-2026," he said.
The First Deputy Head of the Ministry of Economy and Finance emphasized that amid new global instability and uncertainty in the world economy, Uzbekistan remains committed to its path of reforms. One indicator of success is that from 2017 to 2024, trade turnover with Central Asian countries increased 2.5 times, from $3.3 billion to $8.1 billion.
"This demonstrates growing confidence in and predictability of the region's economy. We intend to maintain this momentum and expand cooperation in Central Asia and the South Caucasus," stated Ilkhom Norkulov.
New priorities for cooperation with ADB
Asian Development Bank (ADB) Vice President Yingming Yang, Ilkhom Norkulov, and ADB Country Director for Uzbekistan Kanokpan Lao-Araya.
The First Deputy Minister outlined three areas in which Uzbekistan hopes to expand support from the ADB.
Specifically, these involve developing regional connectivity, jointly combating climate change, and improving water resource management. ADB can support these efforts through capacity-building programs and regional projects.
Additionally, it is proposed to simplify project implementation procedures and utilize national procurement systems.
"After receiving a positive assessment from the World Bank, the duration of public procurement processes in Uzbekistan has been reduced from 4-6 months to 10 days. Considering our growing institutional capacity, we believe it is time for ADB to adopt a similar approach to accelerate project implementation," Norqulov said.
He welcomed ADB's institutional transformation and expressed support for further decentralization of expertise to regional centers, particularly to respond more quickly to requests regarding technical assistance, climate initiatives, water resource management, and transport connectivity.
In concluding his remarks, Ilhom Norqulov emphasized that Central Asia is demonstrating stable growth, noting that the region's total foreign trade turnover reached nearly $95 billion in 2024.