Tashkent, OCT 2020 — According to preliminary estimates, in January-September 2020, the gross domestic product (GDP) of the Republic of Uzbekistan at current prices made up 408.29 trillion soums and, compared to the same period of 2019, increased by 0.4% in real terms. The GDP deflator index, in relation to the prices of January-September 2019, amounted to 111.8%, the State Statistics Committee of Uzbekistan said.

According to the results of January-September 2020, in the structure of GDP produced, the gross added value of the production of goods reached 240.32 trillion soums, the service sector – 136.4 trillion soums, and net taxes on products – 31.56 trillion soums.

As the chart above illustrates, in January-September 2020, GDP growth slowed to 0.4% versus 5.9% in January-September 2019 and 5.7% in January-September 2018. At the same time, a slowdown in the GDP deflator index to 111.8% was noted after 118.5% in January-September 2019 and 130.5% in January-September 2018.

When calculated in US dollars at the average exchange rate for the period under review, nominal GDP totaled US$41.07 billion (in January-September 2019 – US$42.22 billion).

GDP per capita of the country made up 11.95 million soums (or equivalent – US$1,203).

As the above chart demonstrates, in January-September 2020, GDP per capita in real terms decreased by 1.5% versus growth by 3.9% in January-September 2019.

The gross value added created by all sectors of the economy made up 92.3% of the total GDP and increased by 0.5% (contribution to GDP growth – 0.4 percentage points). Net taxes on products in the structure of GDP amounted to 7.7% and decreased by 0.6% (negative contribution to GDP growth – 0.04 percentage points).

The sectors of agriculture, forestry and fisheries made a positive contribution to GDP growth – 0.8 p.p. (in January-September 2019 – 0.6 p.p.) and construction – 0.5 p.p. (in January-September 2019 – 1.4 p.p.).

Industry and the service sector made a negative contribution to GDP growth, which in January-September 2020 reached 0.7 p.p. and – 0.2 p.p., respectively. In January-September 2019, the contribution of industry to GDP growth was 1.2 p.p., the service sector – 2.0 p.p.

Due to the decrease in net taxes on products, GDP fell by 0.04 percentage points. In the same period of 2019, net taxes on products made a positive contribution to GDP growth, which amounted to 0.7 p.p.

In January-September 2019, compared to the corresponding period of 2018, significant shifts were noted in the structure of GDP, characterized by a decrease in the share of agriculture, forestry and fisheries to 27.3% (in January-September 2018 – 31.0%) and an increase in the share of industry to 29.3% (in January-September 2018 – 26.4%).

At the end of January-September 2020, insignificant changes are noted in the sectoral structure of GDP. Thus, the share of agriculture, forestry and fisheries in the sectoral structure of GDP (GVA) increased from 27.3% to 27.9%, construction – from 6.9% to 7.4%, while the share of industry decreased from 29.3% to 28.5%, services – from 36.5% to 36.2%.

At the end of January-September 2020, agriculture, forestry and fisheries showed positive growth rates of 3.4%. The positive dynamics in agriculture, forestry and fisheries is due to an increase in crop production by 4.3% (in January-September 2019 – an increase of 2.3%, in January-September 2018 – a decline of 3.3%) and animal husbandry – by 2.3% (in January-September 2019 – an increase of 2.6%, in January-September 2018 – an increase of 5.6%).

In the industry, there is a decrease in value added at comparable prices by 2.7%. The negative dynamics in this industry was mainly due to a decrease in the added value of the mining and quarrying industry by 26.1% after significant growth in the previous two years (growth in January-September 2019 – by 2.8%, in January-September 2018 years – by 22.0%). At the same time, the decrease in the added value of this industry was mainly influenced by a decrease in natural gas production by 19.6% and gas condensate by 34.7%.

The value added in the manufacturing industry increased in real terms by 2.7% (in January-September 2019 – by 6.2%, in January-September 2018 – by 7.4%).

The electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning industry also showed positive growth of 13.7% versus 5.1% growth in January-September 2019 and 0.8% in January-September 2018. In terms of the added value of water supply, sewerage, waste collection and disposal, a decrease of 7.3% was noted (in January-September 2019 – a decrease by 3.5%, in January-September 2018 – an increase by 9.3%).

The share of manufacturing in the structure of value added in the industrial sector increased to 75.8% against 70.1% in January-September 2019. Accordingly, there was a decrease in the share of the mining industry and quarrying in the structure of value added in the industrial sector to 15.4% (in January-September 2019 – 22.9%).

At the end of January-September 2020, the largest share in the structure of value added in the manufacturing industry fell on the metallurgical and metal-processing industry (except for machinery and equipment), which reached 41.9%.

The share of the production of food, beverages and tobacco products was 13.4%, textiles, clothing, leather and related products – 11.6%, rubber, plastic products and other non-metallic mineral products – 9.1%, chemical products – 7.5%, motor vehicles, trailers, semi-trailers and other transport equipment – 6.0%, coke and petroleum products – 2.4%, electrical equipment – 1.7% and other manufacturing products – 6.4%.

Compared to January-September 2019, construction work increased by 8.6%, while the growth rate of construction of buildings and structures made up 10.1% (in January-September 2019 – 22.0%, in January-September 2018 – 10.6%), civil construction – 5.0% (in January-September 2019 – 45.5%, in January-September 2018 – 38.9%) and specialized construction works – 4.5% (in January-September 2019 – 15.3%, in January-September 2018 – 39.2%).

At the end of January-September 2020, the gross value added of the service sector amounted to 136 403.9 billion soums and, compared to the same period in 2019, decreased by 0.7%. Including: transportation and storage services decreased by 6.5%, accommodation and catering – by 17.0%. Along with this, trade services (including repair of vehicles) increased by 0.4%, information and communication – by 16.9%.

In January-September 2020, in the structure of gross value added of trade (including repair of motor vehicles), the largest share fell on retail trade (excluding trade in motor vehicles) and reached 67.9% (in January-September 2019 – 66.7%). The share of wholesale trade (excluding trade in motor vehicles) amounted to 26.0% (in January-September 2019 – 26.7%), wholesale and retail trade in motor vehicles and their repairs – 6.1% (in January-September 2019 – 6.6%).

In January-September 2020, in the structure of gross value added in the transportation and storage, the largest share fell on road transport – 59.6% (in January-September 2019 – 52.8%). Pipeline transport amounted to 15.8% (in January-September 2019 – 18.3%), rail transport – 13.1% (in January-September 2019 – 11.5%), supporting transport activities – 8.9% (in January-September 2019 – 11.3%), air transport – 2.6% (in January-September 2019 – 6.1%) of the total value added of this industry.

In January-September 2020, the share of information and communication in the country’s economy amounted to 1.7% (in January-September 2019 – 1.6%). In the structure of the added value of this industry, the main share fell on telecommunications services (wire and mobile communications, Internet, etc.) and amounted to 75.0% (in January-September 2019 – 76.3%). The remaining 25.0% of the added value (in January-September 2019 – 23.7%) created in this industry falls on other areas (publishing, computer programming, programming and broadcasting, etc.).

In January-September 2020, small entrepreneurship (businesses) created added value in the amount of 204,287.6 billion soums. At the same time, the share of agriculture, forestry and fisheries in the total GVA of small entrepreneurship (business) was 50.4%, industry – 12.1%, construction – 10.4% and services – 27.1%.

Small entrepreneurship (business) created 54.2% of the total value added in the economy. By the main sectors of the economy, this indicator was: in agriculture, forestry and fisheries – 98.2%, construction – 75.9%, services – 40.5% and industry – 23.1%.

In January-September 2020, the GDP deflator index amounted to 111.8% in relation to prices for the same period in 2019. The highest values of indexes – deflators in the context of industries were noted in trade, accommodation and food services – 114.3%, industry – 113.8%, agriculture, forestry and fisheries – 112.3%, construction – 112.0% and other service industries – 116.2%. Indexes – deflators are lower than, in general, in the economy (111.8%) were observed in transportation and storage, information and communications – 106.4%. At the same time, the deflator index of net taxes on products was 96.9%.