TASHKENT, DEC 26 (DNA) – Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has reduced the forecast of economic growth in Uzbekistan to 5.5 percent in 2017.

Mirziyoyev announced about this during a video conference dedicated to the issues of increasing the export potential.

The president said that the most important factor for maintaining stable and high growth rates of the economy is to ensure consistent increase and fully use the country’s export potential, as well as strengthen the competitiveness of national products in foreign markets.

The president criticized unacceptable practices in economic policy such as pursuing unrealistic figures.

“At a rate of the economic growth of 5.5 percent, the volume of exports increased by almost 15 percent,” he said.

 “Over the past year, to support the export activities of entrepreneurs, a number of decrees and decisions have been made that canceled the export of products on the basis of prepayment, mandatory sale of foreign exchange earnings, issuance of unnecessary permits, and expanded the use of tax incentives for participants of the export operations.”

In 2017, the government expected to ensure the economic growth at the level of 7.8 percent.

In 2018, the total volume of exports is expected to hit $ 12.1 billion. Uzbekistan needs to export $10.8 billion in 2017.

Central Asia’s most populous economy of more than 32 million, Uzbekistan is a large producer of gas, gold and cotton.

Previously , the International Monetary Fund has forecast Uzbekistan’s GDP growth at 6.0 percent in 2017-2018.=DNA

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