Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) lowered the forecast for economic growth in Uzbekistan in 2018 from 5.1% to 5%. This was stated in the EBRD’s Regional Economic Prospects report.

At the same time, the EBRD report noted that Uzbekistan’s economy in 2019 will grow by 4.5%. Earlier, the bank predicted that GDP growth in Uzbekistan in 2019 will be 5.3%.

The bank’s experts noted that in Uzbekistan, economic growth slightly decelerated this year, reflecting a deterioration of the trade balance and slower growth in private consumption in response to price increases.

While Uzbekistan’s reform push lays the ground for solid growth in the years to come, the price and exchange rate liberalisation and the reduction of subsidies has led to the adjustment of relative prices and double-digit inflation, the bank said.

Growth may slow somewhat from 5.3 per cent in 2017 to 5.0 per cent in 2018 and to 4.5 per cent in 2019 as the result of a deceleration in real income growth due to inflation and a further widening of the trade deficit, the EBRD’s report said.