Hidden budget changes add UZS 41trn to Uzbekistan’s 2025 spending

State bodies and organizations spent nearly UZS 41trn more than envisaged by law in 2025 – an overrun of about 14.5%. It has emerged that amendments retroactively legalizing these expenditures were approved at a session of the Legislative Chamber that was held without a live broadcast. In the Senate, lawmakers disclosed how nearly UZS 26trn of the additional spending was used, while the allocation of the remaining UZS 15trn was not specified.

In early December, the Legislative Chamber of Oliy Majlis approved amendments to the law on the 2025 state budget that significantly increased government spending.

As Gazeta.uz stressed, information on the review and adoption of the amendments was not published on the lower house’s official platforms, and the relevant sessions were not broadcast.

The document was discussed on December 3 and 5, on the same days that the laws on the 2026 state budget and tax policy were reviewed and adopted.

The adoption of amendments to the 2025 state budget law was disclosed on December 18 during Senate session. Under established procedure, draft laws are first reviewed in three readings by the Legislative Chamber and are then sent to the upper house – the Senate.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance did not submit initiatives to increase budget spending for parliamentary debate during the year, nor did it provide deputies with justification materials explaining the need for additional expenditures. The bill amending the state budget was introduced to the Legislative Chamber at year-end.

A similar situation occurred at the end of 2024, when spending by state bodies and organizations exceeded the amounts set by law by UZS 10trn. At that time, the Legislative Chamber passed the government-requested amendments through all three readings in nine minutes, with no deputies voting against.

In 2023, the state budget law was amended 15 days before year-end. Lawmakers approved, within 20 minutes, an increase in the consolidated budget deficit ceiling from 3% to 5.5% of GDP and raised the annual external borrowing limit from $4.5bn to $5.5bn.

The 2022 state budget law also set a 3% deficit cap. However, as spending sharply exceeded revenues, the law was amended to raise the ceiling to 4%.

UZS 41trn in additional spending

Senate Budget and Economic Affairs Committee Chair Erkin Gadoev said additional spending in 2025 would amount to UZS 40.9trn. He attributed this to heightened external risks, including slower global economic growth, rising food and energy prices, and higher interest rates in global financial markets, which increased pressure on the state budget.

As a result of the amendments, caps on allocations from the republican budget to first-tier budget administrators (ministries and agencies) were raised from the previously approved UZS 281.6trn to UZS 322.5trn.

According to Gadoev, a substantial share of the additional spending is linked to improving living standards. A total of UZS 5.8trn was earmarked for wages and equivalent payments. Of this, UZS 5.3trn will finance a 10% increase in pensions and benefits from July 1, 2025, and a 10% increase in salaries and stipends for budget-funded employees from August 1. The original budget parameters had envisaged 7% increases – pensions and benefits from September 1 and wages from October 1.

Additional funds were also allocated to raise wages in certain sectors:

UZS 79bn to cover pay increases for staff of children’s music and art schools;
UZS 298bn for additional costs related to higher wages at state cultural institutions and organizations;
UZS 76bn to cover changes in remuneration conditions for employees of the National Statistics Committee.

As part of heat supply system reforms, UZS 2.7trn is to be allocated to improve energy efficiency in social facilities and multi-apartment residential buildings.

Within social support measures, a total of UZS 1.9trn has been allocated, including:

UZS 435bn to improve the quality of medical services for the population;
UZS 311bn to equip handwashing facilities in healthcare and education institutions with essential sanitation and hygiene supplies.

Under the “From Poverty to Prosperity” program, an additional UZS 1.6trn has been allocated on top of the UZS 3.2trn planned for 2025.

Some UZS 458bn is planned for establishing a National Football Center and digitalizing the sector. A total of UZS 3.6trn will support reforms in agriculture and water management, including subsidies for raw cotton, the introduction of water-saving technologies, and pasture restoration:

UZS 3trn to subsidize clusters at UZS 1m per ton of raw cotton sold through exchange trading;
UZS 308bn to further support the rollout of water-saving technologies;
UZS 112bn for pasture restoration and the construction of irrigation facilities.

In addition, UZS 5.8trn is to be allocated for centralized investment projects and regional infrastructure development. The spending cap for the Ministry of Preschool and School Education was increased by UZS 737bn from UZS 59.2trn to UZS 59.901trn. The cap for the Ministry of Agriculture was raised by UZS 222.6bn to UZS 2.021trn – an increase of 12.4%. Of this, UZS 191.7bn was allocated for the construction and equipping of preschool and general education schools.

Transfers from the state budget to state targeted funds are set to increase by UZS 4.1trn, while their expenditures will rise by UZS 7.7trn.

While the senator outlined the allocation of nearly UZS 26trn in additional spending, the remainder was presented in aggregated form – leaving the use of about UZS 15trn unspecified.