2022 Fiscal Transparency Report: Uzbekistan

Government-by-Government Assessments: Uzbekistan

During the review period, the government made significant progress by including in the budget information on expenditures to support executive offices and by publishing basic information on natural resource extraction awards.  The government made its enacted budget and end-of-year report widely and easily accessible to the public, including online, but not its executive budget proposal.  Information on debt obligations, including major state-owned enterprise debt, was not publicly available.  Publicly available budget documents provided a substantially complete picture of the government’s planned expenditures and revenue streams.  Budget documents did not include detailed information on expenditures by ministry or information on allocations to or earnings from state-owned enterprises.  Detailed information on natural resource revenues and the government’s off-budget accounts was not publicly available.  The supreme audit institution met international standards of independence.  Audits that covered the entire annual executed budget contained substantive findings and recommendations.  The government did not specify in law or regulation the criteria and procedures for awarding natural resource extraction contracts or licenses.  Basic information on natural resource extraction awards was not always publicly available.  The government’s sovereign wealth funds had a sound legal framework and disclosed its source of funding and general approach to withdrawals.

Uzbekistan’s fiscal transparency would be improved by:

• Making information on debt obligations, including major state-owned enterprise debt, publicly available;
• Including detailed information on expenditures by ministry as well as information on allocations to and earnings from state-owned enterprises in budget documents;
• Ensuring budget documents are reliable; and
• Fully outlining the criteria and procedures for allocating natural resource extraction licenses and contracts in law or regulation and following them in practice