Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Experts from the Institute of Macroeconomic and Regional Research (IMRI) studied trends in modern policy in the field of foreign direct investment in the world and the situation in Uzbekistan.

Many countries stepped up their investment policy efforts in 2022, with 66 countries introducing a total of 146 policies affecting foreign investment, up 35% from 2021, according to UNCTAD. Uzbekistan adopted 4 measures related to foreign investment in 2022, compared to 2 measures in 2021.

70% of measures adopted in 2022 affecting foreign investment were aimed at creating favorable conditions for investment, while 3/4 of them were traditionally adopted in developing countries, including Uzbekistan.

The trend towards intensifying reform of bilateral investment agreements (BITs) continues: the total number of valid BITs in 2022 was 2,584, including about 2,300 old-generation BITs adopted before 2012. In Uzbekistan, the number of existing BITs is 49, of which only 5 were signed after 2012.

New generation agreements are mainly aimed at strengthening the protection of the state’s rights to control, regulate and manage the investment regime, including issues of national security, public investment, moving away from long-term commitments and including the possibility of adapting agreements to changing economic realities.

In 2020, UNCTAD proposed a new tool for assessing the development of countries, which helps identify areas of needed reform and can be an alternative to the traditional GDP indicator - the Productive Capacity Index (PCI).
 
The PCI score for 2022 for Uzbekistan was 42.0 points, with the world average being 46.8 points.

Uzbekistan, having a significant advantage over other countries of the world in terms of the availability and use of natural capital, lags behind in the subcomponent “Transport” (25.0 points against the world average of 34.1 points), “Private Sector” (34.9 points against 50 .8 points), “Institutions” (38.4 points versus 51.9 points) and “Human capital” (36.9 points versus 44.6 points).

In general, the policy implemented in Uzbekistan in the field of FDI is largely consistent with global trends, however, strengthening the targeting of reforms, with an emphasis on these lagging areas of production potential, will contribute to a more comprehensive and balanced development of the republic