Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance Jamshid Kuchkarov met with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission led by Albert Eger, Senior Economist of the Middle East and Central Asia Department, on 30 October.

During the meeting, the results achieved in the implementation of large-scale reforms aimed at solving the most pressing economic and social problems, the budget implementation issues in the second half of 2018, the forecast parameters of income and expenses for the upcoming 2019 were discussed.

As it was noted, according to the results of the preliminary assessment of the IMF, the country’s macroeconomic policy is consistent with the projected inflation rates for the period 2019 and 2020.

During the discussions, special attention was paid to the prospects for the development of the economic situation, tax reform issues, and the restructuring of state enterprises. The IMF mission positively perceived the reforms implemented by the Government of Uzbekistan to develop and increase productivity in such areas as services and telecommunications.

At the same time, the mission considers it necessary to further improve the efficiency of the agricultural and production sectors, which is very important for the creation of new jobs.

The issues of reforming the tax sphere, the energy industry, liberalizing prices for flour and tin bread, and others were also discussed. Mission members stressed that the measures taken by the Government of Uzbekistan during the period of price liberalization, such as raising wages, pensions and other social benefits, introducing social benefits , testify to Uzbekistan’s commitment to providing social protection to the most vulnerable segments of the population. As noted, one of the main objectives of the state at this stage is to implement measures aimed primarily at providing social support to low-income families.

At the end of the meeting, Albert Eger informed the audience about the plans of the IMF mission, which will be on a working visit in Tashkent until 7 November 2018. In particular, a study will be conducted of the expectations of investors for doing business in the country.

The Ministry of Finance proposed within the framework of the current mission to organize a round table, in order to discuss the ongoing reforms and further actions on the transition to a more effective basis of macroeconomic stabilization and improvement of the investment climate in the economy in accordance with the priorities of the development strategy.