It seems that macro-economy of the Republic of Uzbekistan has been further developed, diversified, stable and sustainable achieving new heights of GDP, GNP, CPI, and FDIs during 2025 confirming the strategic value of Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s national reforms since 2016.
It is pertinent to mention that for the first time its GDP exceeded US$145 billion. Its exports increased by 23 percent, reaching US$33.4 billion during 2025. Additionally, the gold reserves exceeded US$60 billion for the first time showing the diversity of its economy.
Moreover, remarkably the volume of foreign investment attracted into the economy reached US$43.1 billion, with the share of total investment in GDP at 31.9 percent vividly reflecting its business and investment friendly policies and numerous long term incentives and exemptions for the foreign investors and businessmen to make investments in the country. The raising of its sovereign rating from BB to BB by various leading international rating agencies clearly demonstrates its sustainable economic growth during 2025.
Furthermore, the energy sector has been further strengthened in terms of infrastructure development, mix of production and efficiency due to which the electricity production has been enhanced to 85 billion kilowatt-hours.
It appears that people’s centric policies, plans and projects remained one of the strategic priorities of Uzbekistan which are now paying its dividends. Hence clean drinking water reached the homes of 715,000 residents in 188 mahallas for the first time, and water supply was improved for another 2.3 million people during 2025.
The increase in income and reduction of unemployment upheld institutionalization of a balanced social development at the gross root level in the country. Thus 5 million people have started to receive sustainable income, and the unemployment rate has decreased from 5.5 percent to 4.9 percent. About 1,5 million people in need have been lifted out of poverty, and for the first time, 1,435 mahallas became poverty-free areas confirming the effectiveness of its anti-poverty model.
The implementation of a completely new social protection system, providing over 100 types of services such as loans, subsidies, and compensations delivered through the “seven” in mahallas, more than 8,5 million people have risen out of poverty, and unemployment has been reduced by half showing holistic and comprehensive orientation of the President Mirziyoyev’s structural reforms. Resultantly, it achieved the target set three years ago to halve poverty by the end of 2026.
Evidently, the admission of 168 thousand children from low-income families to state kindergartens on a preferential basis remained a great achievement during 2025. Starting this year, an inclusive education system was implemented in 208 kindergartens for the first time.
Interestingly, during past years, it has increasingly become an international dialogue platform for discussing global issues. The hosting of the 150th anniversary Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, session of the UNESCO General Conference, the Central Asia European Union Summit and the International Climate Forum during 2025 rightly projecting Uzbekistan’s balanced, pragmatic, multidimensional and result oriented foreign policy promoting and further strengthening its national vested interests and macro-economy.
According to the Center for Economic Research and Reforms of Uzbekistan its GDP was expected to grow by 7.5 percent in 2025. The center has raised its GDP growth forecast in 2025 to 7.5 percent, 0.8 percentage points higher than the estimate in June.
Over the first nine months of this year, Uzbekistan’s economy grew by 7.6 percent, with stable development in the industrial sector, services, agriculture, construction and foreign trade.
In September, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev announced that Uzbekistan aims to join the ranks of upper-middle-income countries by 2030.
According to the World Bank’s Europe and Central Asia Economic Update Fall 2025, Uzbekistan seems to be on track as one of the five fastest-growing economies in the broader Europe and Central Asia region next year. The report projects Uzbekistan’s GDP has expanded by about 6.2 percent in 2025 well above the regional average amid an overall slowdown across emerging European and Central Asian markets.
According to the World Bank (2025), Uzbekistan’s economy is about eight times larger than Kyrgyzstan’s and roughly seven times larger than Tajikistan’s. In 2024, Uzbekistan’s GDP was roughly US$105 billion, compared with approximately US$14 billion for Kyrgyzstan and US$15 billion for Tajikistan.
Comparative studies of its macro-economy reveals that rising income from abroad and expanding investment at home due to an increasingly investor-friendly climate remained the twin engines of Uzbekistan’s boom.
In the first half of 2025, remittances sent home by Uzbek workers mainly from Russia, Turkey, and South Korea jumped 27 percent year-on-year to reach around US$8.2 billion, providing a surge in household consumption. At the same time, both public and private investment are climbing.
According to Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Investment, Industry and Trade the government spending on infrastructure and industrial projects remained high, and FDIs also witnessed substantial increase during 2025 reaching about US$10 billion in 2024, the highest on record.
Projects span energy, agriculture, and information technology, with investors from South Korea, China, the Gulf states, and Europe among the most active.
Definitely, since President Mirziyoyev came to power in 2016, the government pursued a series of market-oriented reforms to dismantle decades of economic isolation and stagnation. The unification of the exchange rate, lifting of currency restrictions, and simplification of the customs and tax rules changed the landscape of the national economy putting it on the path of further economic liberalization, diversification, qualitative development and industrialization. Thus privatization of the state enterprises, liberalization of trade, and reduction of the barriers to foreign business boosted its economy, community and enterprises alike started a new era of greater socio-economic prosperity.
The introduction of higher-denomination notes and digital payments through HUMO, Uzcard, Visa, and MasterCard have become common in major cities, further strengthening its financial sector.
Interestingly, the IMF dubbed Uzbek structural economic reforms as a “virtuous cycle of higher investment, growth, and poverty reduction. Annual GDP growth has averaged between 5 and 6 percent since the reform drive began, and the national poverty rate has fallen to 8.9 percent, with Mirziyoyev.
Noticeably Uzbekistan is now in the final stages of its World Trade Organization (WTO) accession process, with a goal of joining by 2026, a move that could further open its economy and deepen global ties. Therefore, it now presents one of the most open investment regimes in Central Asia, underscoring how policy changes over less than a decade has transformed the business climate.
Critical analysis of Uzbekistan’s macro-economy confirmed that the state-owned enterprises continue to dominate banking, energy, and transport, and limit competition which needs to be reversed and broadened for achieving greater economic liberalization in the country. Moreover, development of the privation sector in the country should be promoted through further privatization and regulatory reform.
Additionally, due to prevailing socio-economic, geopolitical and geostrategic scenarios in the region and beyond, the policy makers of Uzbekistan should keep pushing on structural reforms: modernizing utilities, improving education, expanding broadband access, and ensuring transparent public investment. These efforts will determine whether the current boom can evolve into long-term, sustainable prosperity.
Furthermore, it is the most populous nation in Central Asia, with approximately 370 million people, its economic transformation, quality development also supports regional stability and development. A dynamic Uzbek economy strengthens trade routes that link China, South Asia, and Europe through the Middle Corridor, an increasingly important strategic alternative to routes passing through Russia, where Uzbekistan is working to become a central hub connecting East and West.
International investors and their companies are making huge investments in Uzbekistan and investment commitment of Saudi Arabia’s energy giant ACWA Power up to US$13.7 billion in its renewable and gas projects has made Uzbekistan the hottest destination of the FDIs in the region.
In banking, Hungary’s OTP Group became the first foreign bank to purchase an Uzbek lender, marking a milestone for the country’s financial sector. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development now lists Uzbekistan among its top five investment destinations, with over €2 billion committed across 90 projects.
It seems that Uzbekistan’s energy and mineral resources are offering reserves of natural gas, uranium, and other materials vital for clean-energy technologies have played an important role in attracting more and more inflows of the FDIs in the country.
Moreover, its growing consumer market and potential manufacturing base in a region bridging Europe and Asia provides a measure of political and economic stability along the corridor stretching from the Caspian Sea to western China.
Due to President Mirziyoyev’s constant and continued structural reforms and ongoing national development strategies the United States and the European Union have further strengthened their economic ties with Uzbekistan. Washington’s C5+1 platform links the five Central Asian states with the U.S. on trade and energy cooperation. The EU, meanwhile, launched its Global Gateway Initiative in the region to finance sustainable infrastructure, with Brussels and Tashkent signing an Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement in 2022 to strengthen trade and governance ties.
Seemingly, Uzbekistan is now entering a new phase of development mainly focusing on quality manufacturing, services, and information technology. It witnesses a structural shift from commodity development to “toward higher-value sectors”. Hopefully, it will further grow, helping to shape a more connected, diversified, and resilient Eurasian economy.
It is praiseworthy that the World Economics estimates Uzbekistan’s 2025 GDP at US$458 billion in PPP terms (purchasing power parity) and an initial estimate of US$487 billion for 2026. Hence this figure is 28 percent higher than the official estimate published by the World Bank.
Certainly, Uzbekistan has emerged as the breakout economic success story of 2025. It has officially crossed a historic threshold, reporting a nominal GDP of approximately €123 billion (US$145 billion) for the fiscal year ending December 2025. This milestone is punctuated by a staggering 23 percent year-on-year increase in total exports, which reached US$33.4 billion, signaling the country’s successful transition from a state-led agrarian economy to a diversified, market-oriented powerhouse.
Thus Uzbekistan is no longer just a regional player but a critical node in the global supply chain for gold, copper, and uranium. For the international markets, the “Uzbek Miracle” represents a rare combination of high-yield opportunities in renewable energy and a massive privatization wave that is set to bring some of the world’s largest mining assets to public exchanges.
While delivering his annual speech the President of Uzbekistan Mirziyoyev has announced a holistic and comprehensive strategic economic road map declaring 2026 as a year of fundamental transformations in the development of public administration, the judicial and legal system, economic sectors, education, science, healthcare, culture, sports, and ecology in all spheres. Thus put the Uzbek economy on the right path and in the right direction.
The Head of State also presented the key priority areas for 2026 showing a balanced socio-economic development pattern at the grassroots levels mainly further improvement of mahalla infrastructure, giving them the appearance of the New Uzbekistan.
The introduction and implementation of a comprehensive approach to mahalla development and new reforms in urbanization and sustainable development of the cities will further strengthen social development in all the mahallas throughout the country.
Moreover, the support of entrepreneurship through unchanged tax rates, allocation of 1010 trillion soums for the development of entrepreneurial infrastructure during 2026 reflecting a paradigm shift in its social development sphere. The provision of 140 trillion soum for the development of the small and medium-sized businesses 140 trillion soum and 43 trillion soum to support women’s and youth entrepreneurship would be a game changer in Uzbekistan.
The transition of the macro-economy towards a technological and innovative development model is the need of the hour. Thus advanced technologies, producing high value-added products with specific foreign markets, increasing the efficiency of energy, water, land, and other natural resources, training local specialists to work with new technologies and boosting labor productivity will be followed and implemented throughout 2026 achieving the desired goals of digitalization and Artificial Intelligence.
According to Head of the state of Uzbekistan, during 2026, 782 new industrial and infrastructure projects will be launched with a total value of US$52 billion. Economic growth is projected at 6.6 percent, with GDP reaching US$167 billion.
Hopefully the further encouragement of the high-tech and innovation-based enterprises will further strengthen its qualitative industrialization, digitalization and AI sectors in the country.
Next year, in Tashkent, Bukhara, Fergana, and Tashkent regions, four data centers, two supercomputers, and artificial intelligence laboratories in 15 universities will be established will enable the implementation of more than 100 AI projects in key areas such as healthcare, transport, agriculture, geology, banking and finance, and public safety.
It is pertinent to mention that Uzbekistan has already started comprehensive work to launch a satellite into space and send the first Uzbek astronaut who is a citizen of our country.
President Mirziyoyev pinpointed stimulation of demand in the domestic market as its third strategic priority during 2026 which seems to be a wise and long term economic decision to mitigate the spillover repercussions of the external shocks. The provision of no less than US$1 billion in affordable loans annually to low-income families has successfully reduced the inflation to a “single-digit” level, and the purchasing power of the population has doubled.
Moreover, provision of 23 trillion soums for housing mortgages, will generate the highest demand in the economy. In addition, the amount of concessional mortgage credit per apartment will be increased by 15 percent.
To stimulate demand for services in 2026, 85 trillion soums in loans and 9 trillion soums in subsidies will be allocated to the sector. In particular, 7 trillion soums will be allocated from the budget for educational services.
An ambitious goal to double the number of foreign tourists and increase the volume of tourism services to US$20 billion over the next five years through a special emphasis on the development of tourism infrastructure would be a value addition during 2026.
A five-year program for the development of domestic railway infrastructure will also be adopted. To connect cities with high-speed trains, starting in 2026, construction of an additional 500 kilometers of railway will begin. A five-year program will be implemented on the improvement of highways’ quality and further enhancement of transit potential.
Fourth priority area consists of the development of professions and the creation of a new labor market architecture geared towards a smart and knowledge based economy. Thus the labor market must operate on a completely new architecture as a unified mechanism integrating profession, qualifications, technology, and education.
Starting in 2026, at least 100 technical colleges will be fully renovated and equipped to meet technological requirements and the needs of in demand professions. The number of technical colleges implementing advanced educational programs from countries such as Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, China, Korea and other countries will reach 100.
In 2026, Innovative Vocational Skills Colleges and “City of Professions” programs will be launched in 7 regions, and in 2027, in the remaining regions.
To develop vocational education in the medical system, training of nurses according to international standards of the British company Pearson has begun in one technical college in each region. Now, these technical colleges will implement educational programs from Germany, Switzerland, the USA, Japan and other countries.
Fifth priority area ensures ecological balance, developing green energy, and the rational use of water resources further transforming the country towards a greener economy during 2026. A credit line of $100 million will be opened for large enterprises to install filters, treatment facilities, and emission monitoring stations for harmful substances in the atmosphere.
In Karakalpakstan, Khorezm, Bukhara, and Navoi, a total of 250 thousand hectares of trees and shrubs will be planted, including 115 thousand hectares on the dried Aral Sea bed. Each region will have botanical and dendrological gardens, as well as 20 shaded walking alleys.
In total, 1,9 trillion soums will be allocated to the environmental sector in 2026. Additionally, 3,3 trillion soums will be allocated in 2026 for the activities related to the implementation of water-saving technologies.
Sixth priority area guarantees continuation of reforms in modern public administration and a fair judicial system. Hence the “Electronic Government” platform will be completely updated during 2026.
Over one thousand of government services, more than 5 thousand functions and responsibilities, 240 databases and information systems, over 100 thousand responsibilities of civil servants in mahallas, districts, regions and republic will be integrated into a single digital platform.
The creation of an ecosystem for providing government services without human intervention, eliminating corruption and excessive bureaucracy will develop a system for delivering government services in a proactive and integrated manner.
Within the framework of constitutional reforms, the positions of regional hokims and chairpersons of local kengash will be further revisited and will be implemented from 2026, in 208 districts and cities.
It was emphasized that the role and participation of the society in the administration of justice will be expanded. The “jury of representatives” institution will gradually implement a mechanism, which has shown positive results in countries with the English legal system.
In summary, the President Mirziyoyev has successfully transformed Uzbekistan’s economy, revolutionized community development through the implementation of the new social development model at the gross root level which has been people’s friendly and result oriented.
The constant increase of its GDP vividly reflects diversity of its economy, vibrancy of its manufacturing capacity and qualitative industrialization. The further development of its metals & minerals sector would be a game changer but it needs re-calculation of emerging geopolitics at the global stage.
Interestingly, the tourism sector experienced immense growth, with 10.7 million foreign visitors by November 2025, a 73 percent increase compared to 2019 levels. Further growth of the tourism sector through proper marketing of its rich history, culture, civilization and traditions at regional level.
The World Bank’s Technology Readiness Index saw the Central Asian country climb 71 places, putting Uzbekistan among the global top 10 clearly indicating its giant leap towards rigorous digitalization, modernization, qualitative industrialization and last but not least, AI.
Uzbekistan’s regional trade has been further consolidated because of its superior economic diplomacy promoting regional cooperation in terms of economic ties, investment, industrial cooperation and joint ventures.
Furthermore, wise foreign policy successfully achieved a trilateral border agreement with Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan resolving a long-standing regional issue. Uzbekistan also strengthened ties with the EU through an enhanced partnership agreement and positioned itself as a platform for regional dialogue.
It is a good omen that Uzbekistan’s President National Development Strategies are now promoting and fostering investments and the private sector in the country acting as a bridge between foreign investors and local entrepreneurs.
Definitely, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s multilayered policies have successfully promoted strategic trust and built meaningful partnerships that contribute to the economic growth and mutual prosperity in the country. His commitment to streamline the investment experience, making Uzbekistan an attractive and accessible destination for global business is achieving new skies.
Integrated policies of President Shavkat has vivified its families, fields and factories alike. Now, it speeds up its channels of production and enhances the velocity of socio-economic prosperity throughout the country.
The policy makers of Uzbekistan should take all possible appropriate measures to reduce the fiscal deficit up to 3 percent of GDP in 2025-2026 aiming to maintain robust public finances and contain near-term inflation pressures, while ensuring the protection of the vulnerable and increased medium-term economic efficiency.
The Uzbek policy makers should introduce new financial derivatives and permission of floating bond markets (Chinese Model) to regional and district governments ensuring their financial conditions and economic self-reliance. Thus de-centralization of financial resources and further development of hybrid agriculture may be further strengthened under the flagship of the Chinese BRI.
It is recommended that acceleration of financial sector reforms, including privatizing state banks, reducing still-sizable policy lending, and deepening the interbank market would support financial intermediation, reduce structural excess liquidity, and facilitate local capital market development. Additional exchange rate flexibility would help absorb potential shocks and safeguard reserves.
It is suggested that the policy makers of Uzbekistan should push to sustain momentum a fully updated digital government platform for greater financial accountability and transparency in the country.
It is submitted that Uzbek public administration should move away from manual procedures, embracing technology to deliver state services that are faster, clearer and easier to use, improving access for both citizens and businesses.
The Republic of Uzbekistan ancient traditions and civilization has successfully surpassed all the hardships and achieved high standards of economic growth, social development, political modernization and above all democratization process in the country. Its journey has now reached the shores of utmost stability and sustainability; and is successfully entering in “The Third Renaissance”.
Uzbekistan this year will celebrate its 35th National Day and hopefully It will be further developed and diversified through coordinated National Development Strategies, making it heaven for people, businessmen and investors alike.
