Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Today, the sphere of information and communication technologies (ICT) is one of the fastest growing in the world economy, being both an engine of economic growth and a sector that has already significantly changed and transformed economic processes in other sectors and continues to influence the formation of a new type of economy based on knowledge, use of information and products of intellectual labor rights. In 2017, the volume of rendered services in the field of communications and informatization was 7.9 trillion soums, including 232.8 billion soums for computer programming services, the State Statistics Committee of Uzbekistan.

Growth in comparison with 2016 amounted to 24% (in comparable prices 15.6 %), due to the increase in the volume of services provided, the introduction of new technologies and new types of services, expanding the range of their provision.

At present, the development of the service sector of Uzbekistan outstrips the growth of material production. The share of services in the gross domestic product (GDP) for January-December of 2017 was 47.3 percent.

The volume of production of services for January-December 2017 amounted to 116.795 trillion soums and increased by 8.9 percent. The increase in volume can be explained by the influence of a number of factors, in particular: the appearance of new types of services on the market, such as payment for goods through credit cards, Internet sales, the opening of new shopping centers, catering organizations, hotels, the expansion of the services of educational organizations, a huge choice in the entertainment industry.

It should also be noted that, despite the liberalization of the currency market in Uzbekistan, and the sharp increase in the foreign exchange rate in September 2017, there was no increase in tariffs for communication services.

In the volume of communication and information services, the largest share (87.3%) falls on telecommunications services (wire and mobile services, Internet, TV and radio broadcasting and etc.).

For the year 2017, the investment in this sphere of ICT amounted 1.891 trillion soums (an increase of 68,7 %), including foreign investment and loans amounted to 1.557 trillion soums (an increase of 2.2 times).

At present, ICT services accounted for 2.2 percent of the GDP of the republic.