Economy - overview:
Uzbekistan is a dry, landlocked country of which 11% consists of intensely cultivated, irrigated river valleys. More than 60% of its population lives in densely populated rural communities. Uzbekistan is now the world's second-largest cotton exporter, a large producer of gold and oil, and a regionally significant producer of chemicals and machinery. Following independence in December 1991, the government sought to prop up its Soviet-style command economy with subsidies and tight controls on production and prices. Uzbekistan responded to the negative external conditions generated by the Asian and Russian financial crises by emphasizing import substitute industrialization and by tightening export and currency controls within its already largely closed economy. A growing debt burden, persistent inflation, and a poor business climate led to disappointing growth in 2001-02. The government, while aware of the need to improve the investment climate, sponsors measures that often increase, not decrease, the government's control over business decisions. A sharp increase in the inequality of income distribution has hurt the lower ranks of society since independence.
GDP:
purchasing power parity - $65 billion (2002 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
3% (2002 est.)
GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $2,500 (2002 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 36%
industry: 21%
services: 43% (2001 est.)
Population below poverty line:
NA%
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 1.2%
highest 10%: 32.8% (1998)
Distribution of family income - Gini index:
44.7 (1998)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
26% (2001 est.)
Labor force:
11.9 million (1998 est.)
Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture 44%, industry 20%, services 36% (1995)
Unemployment rate:
10% plus another 20% underemployed (1999 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $4 billion
expenditures: $4.1 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (1999 est.)
Industries:
textiles, food processing, machine building, metallurgy, natural gas, chemicals
Industrial production growth rate:
3.5% (2000 est.)
Electricity - production:
44.49 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 88.2%
hydro: 11.8%
other: 0% (2001)
nuclear: 0%
Electricity - consumption:
47.08 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - exports:
3.998 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - imports:
9.7 billion kWh (2001)
Oil - production:
142,700 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - consumption:
142,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - exports:
NA (2001)
Oil - imports:
NA (2001)
Oil - proved reserves:
297 million bbl (January 2002 est.)
Natural gas - proved reserves:
937.3 billion cu m (January 2002 est.)
Agriculture - products:
cotton, vegetables, fruits, grain; livestock
Exports:
$2.8 billion f.o.b. (2002 est.)
Exports - commodities:
cotton 41.5%, gold 9.6%, energy products 9.6%, mineral fertilizers, ferrous metals, textiles, food products, automobiles (1998 est.)
Exports - partners:
Russia 16.7%, Switzerland 8.3%, UK 7.2%, Ukraine 4.7%, South Korea 3.3%, Kazakhstan 3.1% (2000)
Imports:
$2.5 billion f.o.b. (2002 est.)
Imports - commodities:
machinery and equipment 49.8%, foodstuffs 16.4%, chemicals, metals (1998 est.)
Imports - partners:
Russia 15.8%, South Korea 9.8%, US 8.7%, Germany 8.7%, Kazakhstan 7.3%, Ukraine 6.1% (2002)
Debt - external:
$4.6 billion (2002 est.)
Economic aid - recipient:
approximately $150 million from the US (2001)
Currency:
Uzbekistani sum (UZS)
Currency code:
UZS
Exchange rates:
Uzbekistani sums per US dollar - 970 (2002), 325 (2001), 236.61 (2000), 124.63 (1999), 94.49 (1998)
Fiscal year:
calendar year
NOTE: The information regarding Uzbekistan on this page is re-published from the 2003 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Guinea Geography 2003 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Uzbekistan Economy 2003 should be addressed to the CIA.
