At a meeting to ensure macroeconomic stability and economic development in the country, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev called the shadow economy the most pressing problem today.

According to the president, products worth tens of trillions of soums remain “in the shadows” in a number of sectors of the economy.

GDP losses from the activities of the shadow economy amount to 135 trillion soums, and the state budget – 30 trillion soums.

Mirziyoyev noted that 41% of construction companies indicated only one worker in their reports. At the same time, last year the volume of work they performed was 4 trillion soums. Also, in 5 thousand fruit and vegetable farms with 25 hectares of land or more, only one employee is formally employed.

Despite the work of 14 departments today involved in the fight against the shadow economy and economic crime, there is no unified system of work to coordinate their activities.

The president instructed to give additional powers to the Department for Combating Economic Crimes under the Prosecutor General's Office.

According to Shavkat Mirziyoyev, previously the work of the department was limited due to the lack of investigative powers and a large number of legal conflicts in the legislation. For example, it now takes up to six months to initiate a criminal case against a “cash company,” which allows violators to complete their illegal activities.

The department will become an agency for conducting in-depth analysis, operational search work and investigations, and its head will simultaneously hold the position of deputy prosecutor general. In addition, the department will receive modern information systems and special tools.

The department will seek fundamental changes in five areas of the economy: construction, pharmaceuticals, alcohol and tobacco trafficking, illegal imports, cashing and illegal export of capital.

In addition, a separate unit – Department for Combating the Shadow Economy – will be created under the Prosecutor General's Office. It will have regional divisions.