Azernews.Az

By Kamila Aliyeva

The Central Bank of Uzbekistan published the results of the development of the Uzbek economy and financial sector in the first half of 2018, Podrobno.uz reported.

In January-June 2018, the increase in the consumer price index (CPI) was 6.2 percent compared to December of the previous year (7.2 percent in January-June of 2017). The monthly dynamics of the CPI for the first half of 2018 indicates a gradual slowdown in price growth from 2.7 percent in January to -0.4 percent in June.

In comparison with the same period of the previous year, there have been significant changes in the structure of inflation.

In the first half of 2017, food prices made the biggest contribution to inflation, and in the first half of this year their growth slowed by half and amounted to 4.6 percent, while the increase in tariffs of services doubled and amounted to 8 percent. Accordingly, in January-June of 2018, non-food prices and tariffs for services became the main drivers of inflation.

Despite the overall downward trend in price growth, the economy continues to have relatively high inflationary pressures, which are due to higher regulated prices and a noticeable rise in price of some basic food products.

Inflationary expectations of the population and business entities in the short term have tended to decline, while long-term expectations, on the contrary, remain relatively high.

Economic growth in the countries - major trading partners, and favorable conditions for the key export positions of the country provided balanced conditions in the external sector.

In the first half of 2018, sustained economic growth was observed, based on accelerated growth in the sphere of services and industrial production.

According to preliminary estimates of the State Statistics Committee, in January-June of 2018 the volume of gross domestic product increased by 4.9 percent. The growth of the number of operating enterprises and organizations, which for January-June of 2018 increased by 7.3 percent or 20,700, was also characterized by high rates.

During the period under review, the volume of capital investments increased by 13.4 percent. The active expansion of the volume and scale of construction works continued (an increase of 9.7 percent).

Against the backdrop of the observed high activity in the economy, the possible expansion in the second half of 2018 of state programs for the development of entrepreneurship, individual sectors and regions can give an additional impetus to accelerating the growth rates of the economy.

In the short term, a certain increase in inflationary pressures may be associated with an increase in investment and consumer demand in the economy due to the expansion of lending in the framework of targeted programs and adjustment of salaries, as well as the process of liberalization of regulated prices.

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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

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