Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The Central Bank has prepared preliminary indicators on the current account of the balance of payments for the first half of 2022.

According to preliminary data, the current account deficit of the balance of payments amounted to US$498.5 million.

At the same time, the negative balance (US$6.4 billion) of the trade balance (goods and services) was partially offset by a positive balance (US$5.9 billion) of primary income and secondary income.

Export of goods and services

In the first half of this year, exports of goods and services (excluding non-monetary gold) increased by 14 percent or US$803 million compared to the same period of last year, reaching US$6.4 billion.

In particular, the export of goods increased by 10 percent or US$445 million compared to the same period of last year and amounted to US$5 billion (US$4.6 billion in the first half of 2021).

The main share of exported goods falls on the commodity groups "textiles and textile products" - US$1.7 billion (US$1.5 billion for the first half of 2021), "base metals and products made from them" - US$886.4 million (US$760.7 million for the 1st half of 2021), "products of plant origin" - US$537.2 million (US$494.5 million for the 1st half of 2021), as well as "products of the chemical industry" - US$409.3 million (US$273.7 million for the first half of 2021).

Export of services increased by 36 percent or US$358 million compared to the first half of last year, amounting to US$1.4 billion (US$988 million in the first half of 2021).

The main increase in the structure of exports of services falls on the travel component, which doubled or by US$224 million compared to the corresponding period of last year and amounted to US$437 million. This growth is explained by an increase in short-term and medium-term visits to Uzbekistan by citizens of foreign countries.

Import of goods and services

Imports of goods and services increased by 23 percent or US$3 billion compared to the same period of last year and amounted to US$15.7 billion.

At the same time, imports of goods amounted to US$13 billion, an increase of 21 percent or US$2.3 billion compared to the corresponding period of last year.

The main share of imported goods was made up of commodity groups "machinery, equipment, mechanisms" - US$3.7 billion (US$3.1 billion in the first half of 2021), "base metals and products made from them" - US$1.8 billion (US$1.5 billion for the first half of 2021), "transport equipment" - US$1.5 billion (US$1.3 billion for the first half of 2021), as well as "chemical industry products" - 1.5 billion dollars (1.3 billion dollars for the first half of 2021).

Compared to the same period of last year, imports of services increased by 34 percent or US$700 million and amounted to US$2.7 billion (US$2 billion for the first half of 2021). At the same time, the main changes in the structure of imported services compared to last year are in the travel component, which increased by US$574 million and in transport services by US$109 million.

Primary and secondary income

The balance of primary income formed positive and amounted to US$524.8 million (US$36.3 million in the first half of last year). This is mainly due to the increase in the number of short-term workers who went abroad to earn money, compared to the same period of last year.

The positive balance of secondary income increased due to the growth of personal transfers (transfers) by 2.1 times or by US$3 billion and amounted to US$5.3 billion (US$2.4 billion in the first half of 2021).

A significant increase in secondary income, taking into account the current geopolitical situation in the world and restrictions on the main sending countries of remittances, is explained by the flow of funds from the informal sector to the formal sector, as well as the direction of export earnings by small (seasonal) exporters through money transfer systems.

According to preliminary indicators, additional studies and analyzes will be carried out and reporting data on indicators of the balance of payments, international investment position and external debt for the first half of 2022 will be presented to users in September this year.