State Tax Committee announced size of shadow economy in Uzbekistan

The committee notes that one of the reasons for the development of the shadow economy is trade without issuing cash vouchers, which creates an opportunity not to pay taxes. This, in turn, creates unhealthy competition among entrepreneurs.

At one of the meetings in July, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev instructed to develop, with the involvement of experts from international organizations, a strategy to reduce the shadow economy.

In 2019, UNDP consultants shared the results of a study on assessing the size of the shadow economy in Uzbekistan based on monetary methods, as well as the results of surveys and interviews conducted in all regions of the republic (more than 700 enterprises and 30 entrepreneurs).

As the results of surveys and interviews show, the main economic reasons for the shadow economy are a large number of types of taxes, fees and deductions and their amounts. Further, in terms of significance, the following reasons were identified: lack of sufficient funds for enterprises, problems with banks associated with settlements, payments, cashing funds, quality of service, high loan rates.