Economy - overview Uzbekistan is a dry, landlocked country of which 10% consists of intenselycultivated, irrigated river valleys. It was one of the poorest areas of theformer Soviet Union with more than 60% of its population living in overpopulatedrural communities. Uzbekistan is now the world's third largest cotton exporter,a major producer of gold and natural gas, and a regionally significant producerof chemicals and machinery. Following independence in December 1991, the governmentsought to prop up its Soviet-style command economy with subsidies and tightcontrols on production and prices. Faced with high rates of inflation, however,the government stepped up the pace of reform in mid-1994, by introducing tighter monetary policies, expanding privatization, slightly reducing therole of the state in the economy, and improving the environment for foreigninvestors. Nevertheless, the state continues to be a dominating influencein the economy, and reforms have so far failed to bring about much-neededstructural changes. The IMF suspended Uzbekistan's $185 million standby arrangementin late 1996 because of governmental steps that made impossible fulfillmentof Fund conditions.

GDP purchasing power parity - $57 billion (1996 estimate as extrapolatedfrom World Bank estimate for 1994)

GDP - real growth rate 1.6% (1996 est.)

GDP - per capita purchasing power parity - $2,430 (1996 est.)

GDP - composition by sector
agriculture: 29%
industry: 24%
services: 47% (1995 est.)

Inflation rate - consumer price index 55% (1996 est.)

Labor force
total: 8.2 million
by occupation: agriculture and forestry 44%, industry and construction 20%, other 36%(1995)

Unemployment rate 0.3% includes only officially registered unemployed; large numbers ofunderemployed workers (December 1996)

Budget
revenues : $NA
expenditures: $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA

Industries textiles, food processing, machine building, metallurgy, natural gas

Industrial production growth rate 6% (1996 est.)

Electricity - capacity 11.82 million kW (1994)

Electricity - production 45.15 billion kWh (1994)

Electricity - consumption per capita 1,970 kWh (1995 est.)

Agriculture - products cotton, vegetables, fruits, grain; livestock

Exports
total value: $3.2 billion (1996)
commodities: cotton, gold, natural gas, mineral fertilizers, ferrous metals, textiles,food products, autos
partners: Russia, Ukraine, Eastern Europe, Western Europe

Imports
total value: $3.2 billion (1996)
commodities : grain, machinery and parts, consumer durables, other foods
partners: principally other FSU, Czech Republic, Western Europe

Debt - external $1.285 billion (of which $510 million to Russia)

Economic aid
recipient: ODA, $71 million (1993)
note: commitments, $2,915 million ($135 million in disbursements) (1992-95)

Currency introduced provisional som-coupons 10 November 1993 which circulatedparallel to the Russian rubles; became the sole legal currency 31 January1994; was replaced in July 1994 by the som currency

Exchange rates Uzbekistani soms (UKS) per US$1 - 51.1 (January 1997), 35.8 (end December1995), 25 (yearend 1994)

Fiscal year calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Uzbekistan on this page is re-published from the 1997 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Uzbekistan Economy 1997 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Uzbekistan Economy 1997 should be addressed to the CIA.