The Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Uzbekistan hosted a seminar with the experts of the World Bank (WB), representatives of ministries and departments. The event was dedicated to the management of public spending, investments and public-private partnership (PPP).

The experts of the WB positively evaluated the reforms in the field of public expenditure management in Uzbekistan. In particular, the draft strategy on investment policy of the Republic of Uzbekistan until 2025, developed by the Ministry of Economy and Industry, was highly appreciated.

At the beginning of the workshop, the participants considered the preliminary review on public expenditure, compiled by World Bank experts in collaboration with representatives of government bodies of Uzbekistan.

The World Bank’s senior public investment specialist, Ian Hawksworth, emphasized several factors for improving the quality of public spending:

 - proper distribution of public resources between sectors of the economy

 - high efficiency of resource utilization within sectors

The participants of the seminar discussed the system of effective state budget management, methods and criteria for assessing the rationality of the public finance - budget funds allocated for specific needs. At the same time, the importance of developing a system for collecting and analyzing the data on projects requiring the allocation of budgetary funds with their feasibility studies, was noted.

The second part of the seminar was devoted to the role of PPP in public expenditure management. The importance of integrating the mechanism of public-private partnerships in the system of public budget management to reduce fiscal risks was highlighted. The experience of the United Kingdom and member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) was studied. In particular, since 2012, OECD countries in practice are guided by the following principles:

 - foundation of a clear, predictable and legitimate institutional structure supported by competent and resourced authorities

 - the price-quality ratio is the basis for choosing a public-private partnership should be in the ratio of price and quality

 - transparent state budget process to minimize fiscal risks and ensure the integrity of the procurement process.

The event ended with a question and answer session on the issues of state budget formation, consolidated expenditures and state financing management system.