CERR experts explained what is the reason for the growth of business activity in the regions of Uzbekistan

To assess the economic situation in the country, the Center for Economic Research and Reforms conducts a monthly assessment of the state of business activity at the regional and district levels.

Analysis of business activity in the context of the regions of the Republic of Uzbekistan is monthly calculated by CERR on the basis of operational data (monitoring in all regions of the Republic, according to the data of the State Customs Committee, State Tax Committee, Central Bank and UzEX).

The monitoring results showed that the volume of tax revenues of the republic in the period from January 1 to September 30 this year increased by 17.3% compared to the same period last year.

At the same time, a significant increase in tax revenues was recorded in Ferghana (by 39.5%), Samarkand (by 35.4%), Syrdarya (by 33.2%), Khorezm (by 32.7%), Bukhara (by 32.2%) regions, in the Republic of Karakalpakstan (by 33.4%) and in Tashkent (by 42.2%).

The increase in tax revenues as a whole during the period under review was influenced by a number of several growth factors at once.

Thus, budget revenues have increased due to the expansion of the introduction of electronic invoices, online cash registers, the introduction of the procedure for returning 1% of the purchase price to the population as cashback, value added tax (revenue growth in the republic of 32%) and turnover tax (49%).

As a result of the growth of economic activity and an increase in the level of profitability, income from income tax paid by taxpayers increased by 38%.

Receipts on customs payments for the analyzed period increased by 40.3% compared to the same period in 2021. The largest increase in customs receipts was observed in Andijan (by 61.2%), Syrdarya (by 48.0%), Jizzakh (by 45.8%), Khorezm (by 45.1%) regions, in the Republic of Karakalpakstan (by 56.9%) and Tashkent (by 46.5%).

According to the analysis of the CERR, the main factors that influenced the increase in revenue from customs payments were an increase in the volume of imports in January-August 2022 by almost 20% compared to the same period last year.

According to the State Customs Committee, the volume of exports of goods from the beginning of this year to September 30 increased by 25.5% compared to the same period last year. A significant increase in the volume of exports of goods was noted in Samarkand (by 35.5%), Andijan (by 35.3%), Syrdarya (by 31.0%), Kashkadarya (by 29.2%), Namangan (by 29.1%) regions and in Tashkent (by 55.3%).

The increase in Uzbekistan’s exports is explained by the growing growth rates of exports of industrial goods, food products, chemicals and agri-food products.

A decrease in exports of goods was observed in Surkhandarya (by 10.0%), Bukhara (by 5.4%) regions and in the Republic of Karakalpakstan (by 10.2%).

The reduction in exports in Surkhandarya region is associated with the reduction in exports of fruit and vegetable products (beans, tomatoes, mash, onions) and yarn, and in the Bukhara region with the direction of cotton fibre to the domestic market. In the Republic of Karakalpakstan with the reduction of exports of plastics, pharmaceutical products (from liquorice root) and yarn.

The volume of loans issued by commercial banks in the period from January 1 to September 30 this year increased by 6.6% compared to the same period last year.

A significant increase in the issuance of loans was noted in Ferghana (by 29.8%), Tashkent (by 24.0%), Samarkand (by 17.7%), Andijan (by 16.1%) regions, the Republic of Karakalpakstan (by 18.3%) and Tashkent (by 11.3%).

The volume of transactions on the UzEX for the analyzed period increased by 41.3%. A significant increase in exchange activity is observed in Khorezm (by 60.5%), Jizzakh (by 58.3%), Navoi (by 46.6%), Samarkand (by 46.1%) regions and in Tashkent (by 53.6%).

The growth in the volume of transactions in these regions is ensured by increasing the sale of such goods as mineral fertilizers, technical seeds, automobile gasoline, diesel fuel, construction and household materials, vegetable oil, wheat flour, wheat, sugar, cotton fibre, rolled ferrous and non-ferrous metals, polyethene, polypropylene, ethyl alcohol, etc.

During the analyzed period, 70,563 new economic entities were created, the largest number of which were registered in Samarkand (8,398), Kashkadarya (6,812), Ferghana (6,720), Tashkent (5,212), Khorezm (4,567) regions and in Tashkent (11,700).