Development finance assessment

Spending on Agriculture
In 2018, the GoU spent 1.8 percent of GDP on agriculture, albeit with limited impact 
on farm incomes, sustainability, and competitiveness. Most funds were directed to the 
production of cotton and wheat, preserving a status quo rather than accelerating agriculture’s 
transformation into higher value-added activities that are part of food value chains. The 
mix of farm support instruments consists of subsidized credit, provision of irrigation, and 
inspections, the impact of which are largely offset by the lack of other programs and low – 
although substantially increased of late -- state procurement prices for cotton and wheat 
(WB, 2019). With the adoption of the new strategy for agriculture
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in 2020 the total amount 
to be allocated to agriculture is anticipated to increase from USD 845 million per annum 
to USD 1.393 million, over the next ten years (2020-2030), reverting the downward trend 
from last years. For comparison, such an increase would represent about 1.1 percent of total 
development finance flows to Uzbekistan in 2020.
Spending on education
Education is one of Uzbekistan’s priorities for socio-economic development and political 
transition. Given the country’s substantial share of prime working age population, as well as 
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The State Targeted Funds are established to perform targeted operations for the government in various areas of 
economy. These funds have been recently reduced from ten to six. In addition, there are about 30 extrabudgetary 
funds with functions targeting a wide scope of social and economic topics (World Bank, 2019). 
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The new Strategy benefits from EU budget support and technical assistance from a range of development partners.

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DIMENSION 1: 
ASSESSING DEVELOPMENT FINANCE FLOWS
children and youth, improving the efficiency of government education spending is part of 
the challenge of raising education outcomes to bolster human capital and create productive 
jobs (WB, 2019). In 2020, almost half of the expenditures for the social sphere or 22.8 percent 
of all budget expenditures will be directed to education. Government education spending 
amounted to 5.4 percent of GDP in 2017 and 5.9 percent in 2018, more than in countries 
with similar incomes, regional peers, and the OECD. The lack of private preschools, general 
secondary education schools and universities in Uzbekistan partly explain this very high 
public expenditure on education. The U.N. Education Index ranks Uzbekistan 78th-80th out of 
188 countries with an index of 0.71. It is currently not possible to match education spending 
with learning outcomes due to a lack of consistent data on education achievements.
Education at all levels in Uzbekistan is undergoing substantial change, including the 
development of private education. As part of the Education Sector Plan 2019-23, financial 
projections for Preschool Education, General Secondary Education and Higher Education 
revealed a total financing gap of UZS 44,259 billion for the period 2019 – 2023 (equivalent to 
USD 5.5 billion, or an annual USD 1.1 billion). This financing gap is equivalent to 2.4 percent 
of total development finance to Uzbekistan in 2020.