In his latest state of the nation address to the parliament on December 20, the president of Uzbekistan made a number of pledges, including a smaller government, more gas, improved public transportation, and stronger safeguards for property rights, Eurasia Net reported.
Even though his nation has had a particularly difficult winter with fuel shortages and power outages, and it appears that its economy may expand less than anticipated, Shavkat Mirziyoyev is keeping things positive.
The streamlining of the civil service is one Mirziyoyev-proposed solution for the underlying issues. In keeping with this, he informed parliamentarians that there will be just 28 ministries and government organizations in 2023, down from 61.
As Shavkat Mirziyoyev warmed to the quality of life issue, he promised that more will be done to properly use Uzbekistan’s gas reserves as fuel consumption continues to rise in the upcoming years. The Uzbek president underscored that going further will provide the solution.
Gas resources will be investigated at depths of over six kilometers on the Ustyurt Plateau. But at the same time, the president said, national interests would take precedence, and large international investors will be sought to carry out the task.
Meanwhile, Mirziyoyev cautioned that enterprises that are currently developing fields but are doing it ineffectively risk losing their licenses.
“We must enshrine national interests in legislation so that subsoil deposits can ensure returns for the next 10-20 years,” he said.
Another change to the legal system is the possibility of giving judges instead of prosecutors the authority to confiscate property, approve search warrants, and authorize wiretaps.
The president then addressed the issue of public transportation and made more pledges. These included building seven new metro stations in the city of Tashkent, and purchasing 1,000 buses. According to him, the addition of 1,000 buses will help the area’s 1 million residents, who live in 300 towns, get about more easily.
This week, Timur Ishmetov, the minister of finance, announced that this year’s economic growth is anticipated to be 5.5 percent. While that number would be the envy of Western countries, it is less than the 7.4 percent growth that was observed in 2021 and what authorities had anticipated earlier in the year.
Next year, the slump will persist, however, according to Ishmetov GDP growth will slow down even more in 2023, reaching 5.3 percent.
