Uzbekistan Diagnostic Assessing Progress and Challenges in

upgraded to enable Uzbekistan to become a major regional hub for cross-border trade and 
foreign investment.
Uzbekistan is potentially a major regional player, but has not sufficiently exploited this 
potential yet.
With a population of 32 million, almost one-half of Central Asia’s population, 
Uzbekistan has the preconditions to become a catalyst for regional integration. The location 
at important regional and transcontinental Eurasian transportation routes opens opportunities 
to establish the country as a major regional logistics, trading and production hub. 
Uzbekistan’s trade openness looks relatively high, despite severe foreign trade restrictions 
and the import substitution policy. Imports of machinery, equipment, and pharmaceuticals 
kept imports of goods and services at 21.5 per cent of GDP in 2016, according to World Bank 
data, only somewhat below the average percentage for lower-middle-income countries
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(27.3 
per cent). Exports as a per cent of GDP stood at 20.6 per cent in 2016, versus 23.5 per cent 
for lower-middle-income countries. Major export destinations are Switzerland (mainly gold), 
China, Turkey and Kazakhstan, while top import origin from China, South Korea, 
Kazakhstan and Turkey. The devaluation of the official exchange rate by about 50 per cent in 
September 2017 will push nominal GDP in current dollars substantially down and therefore 
foreign trade, which is measured in dollars, in per cent of GDP significantly up. Uzbekistan’s 
trade openness indicators will thus show rather high readings as a result. However, this might 
in part be explained by the presumably large share of the informal sector in the economy, not 
reflected in official GDP data. The foreign currency liberalisation will combine with the 
removal of other obstacles to foreign trade and foreign investment to move Uzbekistan 
further up the scale of trade openness and attractiveness for foreign investment.
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Uzbekistan’s 
GDP per capita at PPP was 6514 dollars in 2016, compared with average 6800 for lower-middle-
income countries 

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