Uzbekistan’s hazy reform agenda
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Central Asia

Uzbekistan’s hazy reform agenda

The country’s government is talking a big game about opening up – but how likely is real change?

President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov la
Former president Islam Karimov still casts a large shadow over Uzbekistan. Source: Getty Images

It is hard to think of an emerging economy in the Asian region that’s having a better Covid-19 crisis than Uzbekistan. Central Asia’s most-populous nation expanded 1.6% in 2020 while the US and Europe flirted with a return to the 1930s.

Since September 2016, president Shavkat Mirziyoyev has confounded the conventional wisdom about what’s possible from Tashkent. Few expected a reform Big Bang when Mirziyoyev succeeded Islam Karimov. Odds were, Mirziyoyev would stick with the Soviet-lite policies of his predecessor, whom he served as deputy prime minister.

But Mirziyoyev veered the other way, abandoning the fixed exchange-rate system, cutting corporate taxes, slashing import tariffs, liberalizing capital markets, rewriting the central bank law and creating a state privatization agency. His government eased visa restrictions and began negotiations to join the World Trade Organization.

The country faces very challenging and painful reform elements
Alisher Djumanov, Silk Capital
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These changes meant Uzbekistan was able to navigate the worst of the Covid-19 crisis. The economic impact of the pandemic in Uzbekistan was limited by timely containment and support measures, but it was also lessened thanks to prudent macroeconomic policies in the preceding years.


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