Economic results for the first half of the year and priorities until the end of the year discussed

The Head of state announced the results that had been achieved. Over the first six months of the current year, the gross domestic product grew by 6.4 percent. The industry grew by 7.8, construction by 10.1, services by 12.9, and agriculture by 3.8 percent. Budget revenues reached 113 trillion UZS, an increase of 14 percent.

In general, since the beginning of the year, the added value created in the country reached 567.4 trillion UZS, or $45.1 billion. This indicator was recorded for the first time.

Over the past period, total capital investments amounted to 229 trillion UZS. Of these, $15.5 billion are foreign investments. Investments in Andijan, Bulakbashi, Karakul, Karmana, Davlatabad districts, the cities of Namangan and Samarkand exceeded $100 million, and in Sharaf Rashidov, Farish, Yanginamangan, Akhangaran districts – $70 million.

Since the beginning of the year, 3 thousand projects worth $3.5 billion have been launched, 76 thousand highly paid permanent jobs have been created, 82 trillion UZS of loans and 15.5 trillion UZS of subsidies have been allocated for entrepreneurship, 600 thousand people have been involved in business, and thanks to preferences and benefits, entrepreneurs have 56.3 trillion UZS left at their disposal.

Reforms in green energy have also begun to yield results. Thanks to the launch of 10 solar and wind power plants with a capacity of 2.4 gigawatts, 1.6 billion kilowatts of green energy were obtained in the first half of the year. This allowed for saving half a billion cubic meters of gas.

This year alone, 31.5 trillion UZS have been allocated from the budget for improving mahallas and the infrastructure of kindergartens, schools, medicine, roads, water, and electricity supplies. An additional 1.5 trillion UZS will be allocated.

Over the past six months, 18.6 thousand new housing units have been built and commissioned. About 7 trillion UZS of mortgage loans have been allocated to 26 thousand families. 545 billion UZS of subsidies have been allocated to cover the down payment and interest on them.

The Head of state emphasized the need to analyze existing problems and identify specific plans and tasks.

“Despite the difficult situation in the world, we are achieving specific results on the path to sustainable economic growth. This is recognized by the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the heads of partner states, rating organizations, and large investors. But it will be useful today to point out the shortcomings and identify specific tasks for using reserves”, Shavkat Mirziyoyev said.

First, issues of the economy, finance, taxation, support for entrepreneurship, and poverty reduction were discussed. 

As a result of experiments in Saykhunabad, Uychi, Zarbdor and Gijduvan, over 4 thousand mahallas specialized in industry and agriculture in six months, 1 million 600 thousand people became officially employed, 712 thousand new income tax payers appeared. 

Measures to give a new impetus to these processes were defined at the meeting. In particular, district hokims, bank heads, and mahalla chairpersons will now conclude a tripartite joint work agreement. Until December 1 of this year, based on the Saykhunabad experience, households will be offered a financial package. Due to this, 495 thousand people will be employed. In the second half of the year, the coverage of the “Family Entrepreneurship” program will be increased by 1.5 times, and 4 trillion UZS will be allocated within its framework.

According to Uychi’s experience, district hokims and bank managers will meet with entrepreneurs to help them expand their businesses. At the same time, the hokim will resolve issues of access to land, electricity, water, roads, and other infrastructure, and the bank will resolve financing problems. It was noted that this will provide employment for 670,000 people by the end of the year.

Based on the Gijduvan experience, multi-story industrial buildings will be built in a thousand mahallas by the end of the year. Production facilities organized in households will be moved there. Entrepreneurs working on the upper floors of these buildings will be provided with tax breaks. This will create conditions for withdrawing 140 thousand jobs from the shadow sector.

Based on the Zarbdor experience, driver projects in industry, trade, services, and modern agricultural technologies will be implemented in the districts. An additional 500 billion UZS will be allocated for their implementation this year, creating another 150 thousand jobs. 

The Prime Minister was instructed to approve a plan using the above four experiments to provide employment for 2 million 416 thousand people by district by the end of the year.

The issue of ensuring budget revenues was also considered. The importance of increasing tax revenues by assisting enterprises and entrepreneurs and increasing their income was emphasized. Responsible persons were warned about the inadmissibility of collecting payments and fees from entrepreneurs over what is required.

The weak implementation of the privatization program and slow work to reduce costs at large enterprises were noted.

It was emphasized that benefits and subsidies to entrepreneurs will now be provided for one year. If the target indicator is achieved, it will be extended or terminated depending on the result.

This year, regional enterprises produced goods worth 164 trillion UZS. However, industry has declined in the cities of Kagan, Karaulbazar, Zafarabad, and Mirzaabad districts. Responsible persons have been tasked with restoring the full activity of 2,000 enterprises by the end of the year.

Disciplinary sanctions were applied to 28 hokims of districts and cities that allowed systemic shortcomings in their activities. The hokims of Karauzak, Takhiatash, Uchkuduk, Tashkent, Furkat, Gurlen, Mirzaabad, Yangiarik, and Mingbulak districts, and the city of Gazgan were dismissed.

The meeting agenda included issues related to transport, communications, construction, housing, and communal services. 

The issue of reducing the cost of construction was analyzed. It was noted that in addition to land and building materials, the price is affected by difficulties in coordinating the project and obtaining special technical conditions. It was pointed out that the largest share of the shadow economy falls on construction.

In this regard, the Ministry of Construction has been tasked with updating all procedures that complicate entrepreneurship in the sector.

To improve quality and strengthen order, the Inspectorate for Control in the Sphere of Construction and Housing and Public Utilities will be transferred to the government, and its powers will be expanded. Penalties for construction without permission or with deviations from the project will be tightened.

The procedure for entrepreneurs to obtain technical conditions for connecting electricity and gas supply networks will be digitalized. An automated system for selecting a connection point to the network will be introduced, eliminating the human factor.

In the Investment Program for this year, 20.5 trillion UZS have been allocated for 1,896 projects. In particular, 618 schools, 176 kindergartens, 80 polyclinics, and 67 hospitals are planned to be built and equipped.

It is planned to build 2,152 multi-storey buildings and commission more than 100,000 apartments. Also, to improve the water supply on 570 thousand hectares, commission 13 thousand kilometers of roads, and 195 bridges.

The issues of fully implementing the electronic payment system in public transport and financing passenger transportation based on the gross contract in all regional centers were also touched upon.

The Head of state focused on each of these areas and gave instructions to accelerate projects, the implementation of which is delayed. The President emphasized that people should feel the results of this socially significant work.

Investment, export, and agriculture were also discussed at the meeting. 

Over the past six months, $15.5 billion of foreign investment has been invested in the economy, including $14 billion in direct investments. The President drew attention to their effectiveness.

Every dollar of foreign investment over three years created an average of three dollars of added value. Or every $1,000 foreign investment increased tax revenue by an average of $600. However, in some industries and regions, this figure is low.

Responsible officials have been instructed to carefully analyze the effectiveness of next year’s projects.

The need for the earliest possible installation and commissioning of 593 units of equipment worth $183 million, which were imported in the past, was noted. Measures have been identified to accelerate the launch of protracted investment projects and resolve their problems.

This year, 1.5 trillion UZS have been allocated for industrial zone infrastructure. In addition, banks have an available resource of $650 million from the Reconstruction and Development Fund and $1 billion attracted from abroad. The need for the effective use of these funds and the acceleration of project implementation was noted.

Production within the localization program increased by 34 percent in six months. The task was to increase the share of domestic products in large investment projects.

In this regard, regional hokims and industry leaders were instructed to analyze 200 large projects worth $50 billion in the regions and develop a program for localizing goods and services. The importance of activating regional enterprises’ participation in the cooperation portal was emphasized.

During the analysis of export rates, it was noted that industries and regions have sold products worth $8.7 billion abroad since the beginning of the year. However, in 9 districts, exports did not even reach half of last year’s figure.

Many countries have recently established tariff and non-tariff barriers to protect the domestic market. The relevant ministries and agencies have been instructed to agree to mitigate these barriers.

The export of fruit, vegetables, and food products amounted to $910 million in the first half of this year. First, it was noted that it is necessary to sharply increase the export of processed fruits and vegetables.

382 projects have been launched to increase storage, sorting, and processing capacities. By the end of the year, it is planned to build 10 agro-logistics centers and refrigerated warehouses for 230 thousand tons. Thanks to this, the capacity for storing fruit and vegetable products will be increased to 63 percent.

The Head of state emphasized creating new seed varieties to increase exports. The Ministry of Agriculture was instructed to review the seed production system based on China and Türkiye’s experience and expand the crops’ gene bank.

A three-year program will be developed to create industrial gardens and vineyards on 75 thousand hectares of inefficient gardens and 100,000 hectares of low-yield lands. A preferential loan will be allocated through the Agricultural Fund for such gardens.

Issues related to the financial sustainability of cotton and textile clusters were also considered at the meeting. It was determined that the term of the preferential loan provided to them will be extended until April 1, 2025, and a preferential loan for the purchase of cotton this year will be provided to the clusters’ spinning enterprises. The status of economically inefficient clusters with high unfulfilled financial obligations will be revised.

To increase productivity, the task has been set to bring the level of mechanization of cotton, fruit, and vegetable growing to 50 percent. To this end, farmers will receive another 6.5 thousand units of equipment by the end of the year.

The heads of the Cabinet of Ministers complexes, ministers, and hokims presented their reports at the meeting. Plans to ensure economic growth rates up to the end of the year were presented.