IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde to visit Uzbekistan in June

Today, April 25, Shavkat Mirziyoyev was received at the Diaoyutai residence by the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Christine Lagarde.

According to the press service of the head of state, Shavkat Mirziyoyev expressed satisfaction with the established level of cooperation with the IMF, which has acquired an intensive and systemic nature in recent years.

In turn, Christine Lagarde stated that the IMF is committed to continue providing all necessary support to Uzbekistan in the process of implementing complex economic and structural reforms.

It was noted that the IMF is ready to actively expand the areas of technical assistance, including the development of specific economic policy measures that would contribute to a consistent improvement in the living standards in Uzbekistan.

“Based on its own analysis, the IMF positively assesses the current state and development prospects of the economy of Uzbekistan. In particular, the IMF experts predict a growth in the gross domestic product at 5.5% this year and 6% in the upcoming,” the presidential press service said.

The Fund's specialists noted that Uzbekistan successfully implemented the first stage of important reforms, including liberalization of the foreign exchange market, tax reform and a radical improvement of the state statistics system.

“During the meeting, the issues of the current interaction with the IMF were discussed in detail, its effectiveness was given a high assessment.  The basis for this assessment was the concept of tax policy and administration developed and implemented with the technical assistance of the Fund, jointly prepared draft laws “On the Central Bank and Currency Regulation” in the new edition, formation for the first time in the history of the republic of a medium-term state budget, Uzbekistan’s accession to the expanded General Statistical Data Fund of the IMF,” the statement reads.

According to the press service, the President of Uzbekistan and the IMF Managing Director agreed to continue intensive cooperation, primarily in improving monetary policy, banking system, fiscal policy, adjusting the quality of reporting and analyzing the country's balance of payments in line with international standards. 

Christine Lagarde thanked Shavkat Mirziyoyev for the informative discussion and expressed hope to continue the dialogue during the planned visit to Uzbekistan in June 2019.

“I want to see with my own eyes the results of large-scale reforms that you are implementing for the benefit of the people of Uzbekistan,” she said.