Middle East and Central Asia > Uzbekistan, Republic of

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International Monetary Fund. Middle East and Central Asia Dept.
This Selected Issues paper discusses key channels by which fiscal consolidation impacts short- and medium-term growth, examines the international experience on how to make fiscal consolidation more growth friendly, and analyzes policy implications for Uzbekistan. A large part of the adjustment is implemented with high-quality efficiency-enhancing measures: reducing energy subsidies, improving the targeting of social spending, and curbing policy lending. The World Bank Public Expenditure Review notes that nonwage spending in health and education is low and crowded out by high wage bills, which have been growing in recent years as efforts to improve pay in these areas were implemented. This points to the need to review the adequacy of nonwage spending in these sectors and undertake wage bill rationalization more broadly since these are large sectors of public employment. In the specific case of health spending, consideration should be given to strengthening primary care and introducing task-shifting which will lead to greater efficiency from health wage bill expenditure by shifting its composition over the medium term. Unify the public investment process irrespective of the financing source; create a unified appraisal and selection process; establish a single project pipeline; and improve project monitoring and evaluation to increase public investment efficiency.
International Monetary Fund. Strategy, Policy, & Review Department
This paper presents traction as a multidimensional concept and discusses a comprehensive and complementary set of approaches to attempt to measure it based on the Fund’s value added to policy dialogue and formulation and public debate in member countries.
International Monetary Fund. Middle East and Central Asia Dept.
This paper examines Republic of Uzbekistan’s Requests for Disbursement Under the Rapid Credit Facility (RCF) and Purchase Under the Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI). The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic is significantly impacting Uzbekistan’s economy, reducing growth, and creating additional external and fiscal financing needs. IMF financial assistance under the RCF and the RFI, along with support from other multilateral institutions, will help cover Uzbekistan’s fiscal and balance of payments needs and mitigate the impact on its foreign exchange reserves. It will also provide resources to support increased crisis spending for healthcare, social protection, and public support for affected firms and households. Uzbekistan aims to continue implementing its structural reform agenda, to complete the transformation to a modern, open market economy, and to improve governance and public management. It has committed to safeguard the use and improve the efficiency of its public resources by increasing transparency and accountability.
International Monetary Fund. Fiscal Affairs Dept.
This Fiscal Transparency Evaluation report highlights that Uzbekistan is embarking on a comprehensive reform program to strengthen public financial management and fiscal transparency. Wide-ranging reforms to improve the coverage, reliability, quality, and accessibility of fiscal reports are being developed and implemented, and some good progress already made. This assessment of fiscal transparency practices has been undertaken to support the government’s efforts to increase transparency by identifying priority areas for reform. An evaluation of practices against the IMF’s Fiscal Transparency Code (the Code) finds that tangible gains have been made over 2017 and 2018. In several areas where Uzbekistan’s practices do not currently meet the basic standard required under the Code, quick progress can be made. The report also provides a more detailed evaluation of Uzbekistan’s fiscal transparency practices and recommended reform priorities. Strengthening legislative oversight of the state budget with a view to reducing the extent to which in-year changes can be made to aggregate expenditures without prior parliamentary approval.
International Monetary Fund. Fiscal Affairs Dept.
This Fiscal Transparency Evaluation report on the Republic of Uzbekistan provides a summary of progress made since that evaluation was conducted and is based on practices in place at the time of a Fiscal Affairs Department visit. Uzbekistan has improved its fiscal transparency practices against eight of the Code’s standards since the June evaluation. Most improvements have been accomplished in the areas of fiscal forecasts and budgeting, and fiscal risk disclosure. A road map has also been developed to expand the coverage and quality of fiscal reports and better align these with international standards, further enhance fiscal risk disclosure, and ensure greater parliamentary scrutiny of the budget. Work has also commenced to identify all off-budget fiscal activities, and, the government has committed to including these in future budget and government finance statistics (GFS) reports. Efforts are also underway to expand the coverage of GFS reports, so that they reflect all general government fiscal transactions, including those of nonmarket state-owned enterprises.
International Monetary Fund. Fiscal Affairs Dept.
This paper on the Republic of Uzbekistan focuses on the fiscal transparency in the country. This report provides further guidance to support implementation of the fiscal transparency evaluation recommendations and the government’s plans to strengthen transparency. The IMF team worked with the authorities to further strengthen the application of the Government Finance Statistics Manual standards, improve the budget classification, presentation and reporting; strengthen fiscal risk disclosure and address other fiscal transparency-related issues. Steps have been taken to improve the coverage of Government Finance Statistics reports; however, further work is required. Wide-ranging reforms to improve the coverage, reliability, quality and accessibility of fiscal reports are being developed. A Presidential Decree, approved in August 2018, sets out measures to enhance budget openness and transparency, increase the engagement of citizens in the budget process, and strengthen parliamentary and public scrutiny of the budget.
International Monetary Fund. Middle East and Central Asia Dept.
This 2018 Article IV Consultation highlights that Uzbekistan’s external position remains strong. External shocks, which began in 2014, lowered exports, commodity prices, and remittances and contributed to a decline in growth from about 8 percent to 5 percent in 2017. Growth of domestic employment remained below one percent. A loosening of fiscal and monetary policies, along with price and foreign exchange liberalization, caused inflation to pick up in late 2017 and was close to 20 percent in early 2018. International reserves were equivalent to 19 months of imports of goods and services at end-2017 and debt is low. GDP is projected to expand by about 5 percent in 2018–19, but domestic job creation will continue to lag.
International Monetary Fund. Middle East and Central Asia Dept.
This paper discusses 2012 Article IV Consultation of Republic of Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan has been experiencing strong momentum in economic growth supported by sustained public investment and increased prices for commodity exports. The IMF report suggests that it is important to ease the restrictiveness of the foreign exchange and trade regimes, as it impedes the development of the financial and private sectors and distorts resource allocation. Improvement economic data quality and transparency should also be a high- priority item in the action list.
International Monetary Fund
This 2008 Article IV Consultation highlights that the Uzbek economy has performed well in recent years. The favorable external environment and improvements in macroeconomic policies resulted in high growth rates, large current account surpluses, a significant decline in the debt burden, and a more than quadrupling of foreign exchange reserves from 2003 to 2007. Executive Directors have commended the authorities for Uzbekistan’s continued strong economic performance, which has benefited from a generally favorable external environment and an improved policy framework.