Ouzbékistan
This chapter describes sustainable infrastructure planning in Uzbekistan and presents current trends in investment in large-scale infrastructure projects. It compares Uzbekistan’s infrastructure plans in the energy, transport, industry and water sectors against its international commitments under the Paris Agreement on climate change and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The chapter also explores Uzbekistan’s strategic documents for long-term economic development, sectoral development and the environment, including those related to climate change mitigation and adaptation. It identifies misalignments between stated goals and observed investment flows and provides recommendations to improve strategic planning for sustainable infrastructure.
This chapter provides the necessary context to understand the scale of the challenges that Uzbekistan faces in pursuing its green transition and the gap between available financing and the estimated sums required. Uzbekistan’s economy is dynamic and growing, but also highly energy- and GHG-intensive. The Government of Uzbekistan has set ambitious targets for the country in terms of economic development and climate change mitigation, but the scale of the economic transformation required to meet these targets requires sizeable investments, particularly in infrastructure. This transition will necessitate a major shift in Uzbekistan’s existing infrastructure systems, especially its fossil fuel-reliant energy sector. By facilitating private investment, including from international sources, in projects that satisfy growing demand for infrastructure services without exacerbating existing environmental problems, Uzbekistan has an opportunity to establish itself as a regional leader in sustainable development. Such projects could, for instance, seek to harness Uzbekistan’s large renewable energy potential.
We have conventional understanding among professionals on the need to eliminate issuance, use, transfer and retention of paper securities without delay. As a result, from the year of 1999 all important institutions made efforts to implement electronic document turnover, and finally from the August 2002 most of documents among stock exchange, clearing house, central depository and custodians have been circulated in electronic form.
Uzbekistan’s broad economic reforms were expanded to cover energy in 2019 when the government launched a multiphase transition from the state-owned and -operated and subsidised energy sector model to competitive gas, oil and electricity markets with significant private-sector participation and cost-covering energy prices.
The reform plans to diversify the country’s energy supply, which domestic natural gas continues to dominate in all sectors, including transport. Natural gas exports will be phased out by 2025 and the gas will be used increasingly to expand petrochemicals production, while Uzbekistan’s significant but unexploited solar and wind resources will be harnessed to help build a cleaner power sector to 2030. While energy use per capita is low, the country’s economy remains one of the most energy-intensive in the world, and massive potential remains to improve energy efficiency through incentives and mandates.
This report is intended to help guide Uzbekistan towards a more secure, sustainable and efficient energy future.It proposes several ways to support the government in its reform efforts. The gradual transition to competitive markets and withdrawal of subsidies should be accompanied by support measures for those most in need. For the reform to succeed, an independent and well-resourced energy regulator is also necessary. Furthermore, the financial imbalances in the state-owned energy companies must be addressed and their re emergence avoided.
For the long term, as Uzbekistan’s population, cities and economy are projected to grow strongly, a cross-sectoral approach is required to limit the increase in energy demand and energy-related greenhouse gas emissions.
This chapter assesses recent achievements trade facilitation reforms in Uzbekistan, while also considering the remaining challenges. It highlights the progress made in establishing the Single Window, reducing tariffs, streamlining trade-related documentation, implementing automation procedures, and creating stakeholder engagement and feedback mechanisms. Subsequently, the outstanding issues in procedural streamlining, process automation, and agency co-operation are assessed. Finally, the chapter addresses the importance of drawing inspiration from, and collaborating with, neighbouring peers to further progress in trade facilitation performance.
This chapter assesses progress made and challenges ahead in the three priority areas for reform identified in 2020, namely the investment climate, the operational environment for businesses, and taxation, considering the impact of the pandemic and Russia’s war on Ukraine. Progress has been made in particular in clarifying the regulatory framework for investment, making the business environment easier to navigate for firms, and digitalising tax services.
The Constitution of Uzbekistan prohibits all forms of discrimination and provides for equal rights for men and women. In reality, a very strong patriarchal tradition affects the role of women both in the family and within society in general. Moreover, the resurgent nationalist movement has reinforced traditional gender stereotypes. Fewer than three-quarters of Uzbek women believe they have the same rights as men.
Responses to the survey suggest that firms consider ongoing legal and regulatory reforms to support the business climate in Uzbekistan to be moving in the right direction. At the same time, respondents note that there remains significant work to be done both on the implementation of these reforms, and on additional and complementary pro-competition reforms. These views are in line with OECD analysis on a number of areas highlighted by respondents, such as overall framework conditions for business, taxation, and competition policy. While the legal and regulatory environment for business in Uzbekistan has improved significantly developed since 2017, reducing many unnecessary fixed costs of doing business, the survey highlights a number of areas where more work is necessary to foster private sector development.
The government of Uzbekistan launched a wide-ranging programme of reforms in 2017 in order to accelerate the transition to an open, market-based economy. The country is now on a pathway to a sounder economic and fiscal footing, but the success of these strategic ambitions depends on the resolution of long-standing issues in the business climate. Addressing these issues is also critical to enabling the broader structural transformation of the country’s economy, which despite having started in the mid-1990s, remains at a relatively early stage.
Respondents to the survey raised a number of concerns relating to the ease of trade in Uzbekistan. These concerns dovetail with a large body of work the OECD has conducted, in co-operation with the government, on issues around trade facilitation and connectivity. Despite the geographical connectivity penalties Uzbekistan faces due to its double landlocked status, the country has potential to be an attractive destination for market-seeking investment: a large and expanding population, nestled in the midst of a number of other small but potentially high-growth markets. Yet, for both domestic and international firms to harness potential market opportunities, there remains much to be done to lower the cost of trade and raise awareness of external opportunities for the domestic private sector. This chapter introduces a number of insights from the survey, before giving an overview of recent progress, opportunities, and challenges in trade facilitation and export promotion in Uzbekistan.
This report analyses planned infrastructure projects, decision-making frameworks related to infrastructure development and strategic planning documents in eight countries in Central Asia and the Caucasus: Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. It compares current investment flows with countries' national development objectives to identify misalignments and provides policy-makers with recommendations to improve the integration of climate change and other environmental concerns into infrastucture development decision-making processes. The report presents a comprehensive overview of infrastructure investment, primarily in the transport and energy sectors, throughout the region and identifies the risks and opportunities emerging from current investment patterns.
The purpose of the OECD private sector survey of Uzbekistan, conducted by the OECD in 2022, was to collect new firm-level insights into the ongoing reform process to support the business climate in the country. The survey provides additional input for the OECD and the Government to consider when reflecting on the effectiveness and direction of the reform process. This chapter introduces the survey, its methodology, and a number of high-level observations that emerged from the process.
This chapter presents the potential role of green bonds in financing Uzbekistan’s green transition, the priority sectors for green bond issuance and barriers that potential issuers face. Non-sovereign issuers, notably subnational governments and corporate entities, face barriers in terms of the country’s existing regulatory requirements and persistent knowledge and expertise gaps, but there is considerable potential for the use of the instrument to finance these issuers’ green projects. Other bond-like instruments, such as green sukuks, an Islamic fixed-income instrument, could prove effective at mobilising domestic demand and offer an alternative financing mechanism if regulatory hurdles to the development of Islamic finance in Uzbekistan are removed. The energy sector, particularly renewable power generation projects, is the sector with the most potential for green bond issuances, but agriculture, transport, housing and water management projects could benefit as well.
This Solar Energy Policy in Uzbekistan Roadmap is part of the EU4Energy programme, a five-year initiative funded by the European Union. EU4Energy’s aim is to support the development of evidence-based energy policy design and data capabilities in Eastern Partnership and Central Asian countries, of which Uzbekistan is a part.
The main purpose of this roadmap is to guide policy making at all levels to maximise the use of solar energy in Uzbekistan, and to serve as a precursor for a national solar energy strategy. The government of Uzbekistan is invited to consider incorporating the actions outlined in this roadmap so as to enhance the use of solar resources into a dedicated solar energy strategy.
This roadmap primarily focuses on increasing solar generation in Uzbekistan's electricity mix, but also touches upon solar heat potential to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels.
The roadmap aims to help Uzbekistan formulate its strategies and plans for solar energy deployment across all levels of government. It is also intended to support and guide the activities of other key stakeholders.
While survey respondents were positive about digital opportunities in the country, many expressed concerns regarding infrastructure and skills. The process of digitalisation will profoundly shape Uzbekistan’s economy and society in the years to come, just as it is doing across the OECD. Ensuring access to high-quality connectivity infrastructure and raising the level of digital skills in the workforce are essential for enabling the private sector to make the most of the opportunities of digitalisation.
Most dynamic developments of securities market started in 1993, when the government launched medium & mass privatization and securtisation of the State Owned Enterprises. Government agencies (Center for Coordination of Securities Market, Ministry of Finance and State Committee of Privatization) are working hard to improve the Uzbekistan’s young equity market.
Subnational governments in Asia and the Pacific are key providers of the public services and infrastructure required to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Given this role, it is essential that policymakers and development partners understand and support the effective functioning of multi-level governance structures and subnational government finances across the region.
This joint OECD-ADB report provides a comprehensive overview of subnational governments across Asia and the Pacific. It covers over 467,000 subnational governments from 26 countries, which represent 53% of the world’s population and 40% of global GDP. On average in 2020, subnational governments in the region accounted for 29% of total public expenditure (8.8% of GDP), 35% of total public revenue (8.5% of GDP) and 38% of public investment (2% of GDP).
Harnessing unique data from the 3rd edition of the OECD-UCLG World Observatory on Subnational Government Finance and Investment, the analysis highlights how decentralisation and territorial reforms have reconfigured the structures and finances of subnational governments in the region. It covers a range of topics including fiscal rules, financial management capacity, priority-based budgeting, asset management and the use of public-private partnerships.
Addressing barriers to private-sector development has been a long-standing ambition of the government of Uzbekistan, with an extensive programme of reforms that began in 2017 redoubling efforts to foster the growth of a more competitive and productive population of private-sector firms. Uzbekistan needs a more dynamic and innovative private sector if it is to meet the challenges and seize the opportunities of the green and digital transitions, which create a new impetus for accelerating these reforms. A survey of the private sector in Uzbekistan provided an opportunity to gather new insights into firm-level perceptions of the ongoing reform process and to refocus the attention of policymakers on some of the most pressing issues.