Social-economic development of Uzbekistan in the first quarter of 2016 was against the background of the ongoing crisis in the global economy and decreasing its development, the negative dynamics of world prices and the reduction of the external effective demand for a number of key export commodities.

In these circumstances, the measures taken to involve existing reserves and possibilities for realization of the most important priorities of economic program for 2016, which determined by the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov, provided in the first quarter of this year, steady economic growth and macroeconomic balance.

I. The strengthening of structural reforms in the economy and modernization of the country, providing macroeconomic balance

Positive dynamics of the main macroeconomic factors is provided as a result of the implementation of the Programme of further reform, structural transformation and diversification of the economy in the 2015-2019 years in the first quarter of this year.

Compared with the first quarter of 2015 gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 7.5 percent. At the same time, macroeconomic stability was ensured by the State budget surplus of 0.1 percent of GDP, a positive trade balance and a low level of inflation - 2 percent.

The volume of industry increased by 7 percent and amounted to 36.1 percent of GDP. Agricultural production grew by 6.7 percent, the volume of retail trade - by 12.8 percent, contractual construction works - by 19.4 percent.

The volume of investment grew by 8.5 per cent as a result of taken measures to boost putting in operation of modern high-tech industries on output of competitive products based on deep processing of raw materials and semi-finished products. In the structure of the investments disbursed during the first quarter of this year the largest volume of investments amounted to non-centralized investments (80.7 per cent of the total), of which 34.2 percent - own funds of economic entities.

Through the implementation of measures to accelerate the development of modern services, primarily on the basis of the widespread introduction of information and communication technologies, the volume of services increased by 12.1 percent, and their share in GDP rose to 59.5 percent against 59.3 percent in the corresponding period last year.

Source: Jahonnews.uz