UzDaily

May 1, 2015 

On 30 April 2015, the Second National Millennium Development Goals (MDG) report of Uzbekistan was launched in Tashkent's Wyndham Hotel. The event was attended by representatives of Government ministries and institutions, international agencies, diplomatic corps, experts and the civil society.

This report is a joint effort of the Government of Uzbekistan and the United Nations (UN) agencies in Uzbekistan, and it aims to provide an analysis and assessment of the country's progress towards the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals during 2000-2013. It also identifies key factors that have contributed to the achievement of the goals as well as highlighting the challenges the country will have to address in the years to come.

The report provides a meaningful account of how Uzbekistan has progressed in achieving nationalized MDGs.

As the country embarks on a phase of accelerated transformation processes, the national strategy for maintaining further improvements in sustainable human development will need to be adapted. Therefore, along with the analysis of the achievements, the authors of the report outline key directions for the country's socio-economic development beyond 2015.

Thus, the report marks an important timescale for Uzbekistan to start consultations on how the global post-2015 agenda and the set of SDGs will fit within the country's own development planning and priorities for the next period.

The MDG report is the result of a highly participatory and consultative process: 8 working groups were formed with national experts from more than 15 Ministries and institutions and representatives of eight UN agencies; 4 rounds of working group meetings and round tables were organized to discuss the structure and core content of the document; several international experts were involved in its preparation.

The Center of Economic Research (CER), a coordinating body on preparation of the MDG Report, has made a presentation of MDG Report to highlight the progress towards attainment of MDGs in Uzbekistan. In turn, the UN Office in Uzbekistan has delivered information on key principles and priorities of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) at the global level.

Minister of Economy of Uzbekistan Galina Saidova said that the level of poverty in Uzbekistan fell twice. Significant progress was also achieved in education, gender equality, healthcare, environment protection and improvement of business climate, she said.

According to national report, the poverty level in Uzbekistan fell 1.9 times in Uzbekistan in 2001-2013 - from 27.5% to 14.1% of population. The figure, as expected, will decrease to 13.7% in 2015.

The poverty level in rural areas fell from 30.5% to 17.3% in the reporting period, and in urban areas - from 22.5% to 10.6%.

Saidova said that the report can became a base for launch of consultations on developing and adaptation of global development programme after 2015 and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) for Uzbekistan.

Stefan Priesner, the UN Resident Coordinator for Uzbekistan, said that SDG will continue MDG ideas as there are problems in the world, which should be address. He said that the SDGs are more ambitious as their implementation will be global responsibility, which countries will share among themselves. He said that nobody should stay away from this process and rule of law will play key role in this process.

The SDGs will be the second stage of developing cooperation, which was established within cooperation between the Government of Uzbekistan and UNDP Country Office in Uzbekistan on achievement of MDGs in the country, he said. The dialogue with the government to achieve development will be continued.

Azernews

April 29, 2015 

The World Bank will implement in Uzbekistan a project worth $150 to support the country's agriculture sector.

The World Bank and the Uzbek government signed in early April an agreement for a $150 million loan provided by the IBRD to finance a Horticulture Development Project in Uzbekistan.

The project has been designed in support of the government's five-year Industrial Modernization and Infrastructure Development Program (2011-15) cross-cutting development priorities as enhancing the competitiveness of industries, such as agro-processing and diversifying the economy and thereby reducing its reliance on a few commodity exports, the World Bank said.

The bank said the project will contribute to poverty reduction in the country by assisting horticulture farmers, many of whom are small and comprise the poorest, to increase their farm productivity and incomes, and fostering greater and better rural jobs through: improving access to technologies, knowledge and markets; strengthening technical and managerial capacity in the farming and agri-business sectors; and introducing new financial products in the financial sector. These will bring sustained benefits to the project beneficiaries over the long-term.

At the same time, the project will promote shared prosperity by supporting the growth and development of small and medium enterprises in the rural areas, creating more and better paying jobs in the agro-processing, trading and export sectors, and increasing the value added of the agricultural sector.

"Having more jobs and better paying jobs is critically important for the well-being of people living in the rural areas of Uzbekistan," said Junghun Cho, the World Bank country manager for Uzbekistan.

He said the new Horticulture Development Project will help create much-needed jobs by improving access to technologies, knowledge and markets, strengthening technical and managerial capacity in the farming and agri-business sectors, and introducing new financial products in the financial sector.

The project has three components: agricultural support services, access to credit, and project management, and will be implemented in eight regions of Uzbekistan, namely Andijon, Jizzak, Ferghana, Kashkadarya, Karakalpakstan, Namangan, Samarkand, and Tashkent.

This is the first project in the World Bank Group portfolio in Uzbekistan where the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation will join efforts in implementing the project.

IFC will support local food producers and processors in implementing internationally recognized food safety solutions; help companies along the agribusiness value chain to improve their competitiveness and long-term value chain sustainability; and improve capacity building of commercial banks' staff by promoting of all types of agricultural lending. It ensures access to markets for farmers-producers of supply chains.

The project will bring benefits to farmers, farmer groups, private enterprises, agro-firms, and agro-processing enterprises, involved in the country's horticultural sub-sector.

Azernews

April 30, 2015 

The board of Uzbekistan's Central Bank decided to keep the refinancing rate at nine percent.

"The decision was made basing on the tasks set in main directions of the monetary policy for 2015, as well as given the actual and expected inflation rate in the current year," the bank reported on April 30.

The refinancing rate was reduced by the central bank from 10 to nine percent from Jan. 1, 2015.

Uzbekistan, since 2000, has applied the floating rate of refinancing, corrected depending on the dynamics of inflation, demand and supply in the money market.

From July 2006 to January 2011, the rate remained at 14 percent, and in 2011-2013 it was at 12 percent. In early 2014, the central bank set the refinancing rate at 10 percent per annum.

Uzbekistan's government plans to keep in 2015 the inflation at 5.5-6.5 percent.

Uzbekistan's banking system is currently represented by 26 commercial banks, including three state-owned, 11 joint-stock, seven private and five banks operating with the involvement of foreign capital.

AUCC

May 1, 2015