Uzbekistan Quality Job Creation as a Cornerstone for Sustainable Economic Growth

Figure 1.10: Exports by Level of Technology, Uzbekistan, 1995–2018
$ Billion
Primary + resource-based
manufacturers + gold
Low tech
Medium tech
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
8
7
1995
1998
2001
2004
2007
2010
2013
2018
2016

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Uzbekistan Quality Job Creation as a Cornerstone for Sustainable Economic Growth
14
Source: ADB estimates based on UN Comtrade. https://comtrade.un.org (accessed 11 November 2019).
Figure 1.11: Product Space of Exports, Uzbekistan, 
1995, 2005, and 2017
1995
2005
2017
Construction materials 
and equipment
Chemicals and health 
related products
Mining
Inorganic salts and acid
Home and office products
Metal products
Processed minerals
Miscellaneous agriculture
Animal fibers
Fruit
Pulp and paper
Cereals and vegetable oils
Food processing
Oil
Meat and eggs
Cotton, rice, soy beans, 
and others
Beer, spirits, and cigarettes
Milk and cheese
Tobacco
Tropical treecrops and 
flowers
Garments
Leather
Textile and fabrics
Electronics
Fish and seafood
Aircraft
Machinery
Boilers
Ships
Agrochemicals
Precious stones
Petrochemicals
Other chemicals
Coal
Not classified
MINING LPG
MINING
MINING
MINING
MINING
MINING
LEAThEr
LEAThEr
frUITS/VEGETABLES
frUITS/
VEGETABLES
frUITS/
VEGETABLES
PETrOLEUM
GAS
PETrOLEUM
GAS
ELECTrONICS
PETrO-
ChEMICALS
ChEMICALS
INOrGANIC ACIDS
MAChINEry
fABrICS
ANIMAL fIBErS
COAL
COTTON
COTTON
GArMENTS
COTTON
SILK
SILK
SILK

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 Macroeconomic Performance, Opportunities, and Challenges
15
Figure 1.12 suggests a strong positive association between a country’s 
economic complexity index (ECI) value and its economic performance. 
Uzbekistan’s ECI value (-0.68 in 2016, Figure 1.13) compares favorably with 
the RRDC average (which was –1.11 in 2016). However, there is a big gap 
between Uzbekistan’s ECI and the average for resource rich countries that 
have reached at least upper-middle-income status (–0.19).
7
Uzbekistan’s 
ECI did not improve between 1995 and 2016, similar to the RRDC average, 
although there are exceptions among the RRDC group: the ECI for Angola 
improved significantly (+0.63), as did that of Indonesia (+0.43), the Lao 
People’s Democratic Republic (+0.22), and Viet Nam (+1.12). The lesson 
from these countries is that export diversification is possible independent of 
market conditions and despite vast resource wealth. 
7
The countries are Brazil, Botswana, Chile, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. 
GDP=gross domestic product, PPP = purchasing power parity, PRC = People’s Republic of China,
US = United States.
Notes: The Economic Complexity Index is a ranking of countries based on the diversity and complexity of 
their export baskets. Countries that have a great diversity of productive know-how, particularly complex 
specialized know-how, are able to produce a great diversity of sophisticated products. The complexity 
of a country’s exports is found to highly predict current income levels, or where complexity exceeds 
expectations for a country’s income level, the country is predicted to experience more rapid growth in the 
future. The index therefore provides a useful measure of economic development.
Sources: ADB estimates based on UN Comtrade database. https://comtrade.un.org; and World Bank, 
World Development Indicators. http://www.databank.worldbank.org/ for GDP per capita (both accessed 
11 November 2019).
Economic Complexity Index
Log of GDP per capita (2011 PPP$)
Uzbekistan
Singapore
Japan
US
Russian Federation
Kazakhstan
Turkmenistan
Rep. of Korea
Malaysia
Thailand
PRC
Georgia
Armenia
Moldova
Malawi
Ethiopia
–3.0
3.0
–2.0
–1.0
0.0
1.0
2.0
6
7
8
9
10
11
12