Uzbekistan Quality Job Creation as a Cornerstone for Sustainable Economic Growth

Figure 5.7: FDI Inflows in Share of GDP 
(%)
, Uzbekistan,
2012 and 2017 
Processing of oil
and gas
Chemical industry
Extraction of oil
and gas
Other 
manufacturing
Others
Mining industry
Processing
industry
Transport and
storage
Communications
and IT
2012
2017
28%
30%
57%
13%
10%
9%
11%
9%
3%
4%
11%
15%

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Uzbekistan Quality Job Creation as a Cornerstone for Sustainable Economic Growth
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5.3.1. Tariff and Nontariff trade barriers
Even though the government shelters domestic firms from foreign competition, 
many branches of the economy rely on imports (World Bank 2018). In terms 
of import duty levels, Uzbekistan’s trade policies remain the most restrictive 
in the Central Asian region. Figure 5.9 shows the weighted average import 
tariff rate for Uzbekistan during 2006–2014. Although the rate is declining 
over time, it was still high at 16.2% in 2014 compared with the average rates 
that year of 4.6% for the Kyrgyz Republic, 8.3% for Tajikistan, and 8.6% for 
Kazakhstan. The Central Asian economies’ underlying lower tariffs can be 
explained by their involvement in regional agreements such as the Eurasian 
Economic Union, and in the WTO.
Table 5.2 shows the decomposition of import tariffs in Uzbekistan by major 
product categories in 2014. The highest import tariffs are observed in apparel 
and textile industries, such as footwear, leather, and furs manufacturing. This 
is no coincidence, because textiles accounted for 15% of Uzbekistan’s exports 
in 2016.
a
The year 2018 is not reported for Kazakhstan and Tajikistan.
GDP = gross domestic product.
Source: World Bank. World Development Indicators. https://databank.worldbank.org/source/world-
development-indicators (accessed 12 December 2019).