erview: Uzbekistan is a dry, landlocked country of which
10% consists of intensely cultivated, irrigated river valleys. It was
one of the poorest areas of the former Soviet Union with more than 60%
of its population living in overpopulated rural communities.
Uzbekistan is now the world's third largest cotton exporter, a major
producer of gold and natural gas, and a regionally significant
producer of chemicals and machinery. Following independence in
December 1991, the government sought to prop up its Soviet-style
command economy with subsidies and tight controls on production and
prices. Faced with high rates of inflation, however, the government
stepped up the pace of reform in mid-1994, by introducing tighter
monetary policies, expanding privatization, slightly reducing the role
of the state in the economy, and improving the environment for foreign
investors. Nevertheless, the state continues to be a dominating
influence in the economy, and reforms have so far failed to bring
about much-needed structural changes. The IMF suspended Uzbekistan's
$185 million standby arrangement in late 1996 because of governmental
steps that made impossible fulfillment of Fund conditions.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $57 billion (1996 estimate as
extrapolated from World Bank estimate for 1994)

GDP - real growth rate: 1.6% (1996 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $2,430 (1996 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 29%
industry: 24%
services: 47% (1995 est.)

Inflation rate - consumer price index: 55% (1996 est.)

Labor force:
total: 8.2 million
by occupation: agriculture and forestry 44%, industry and construction
20%, other 36% (1995)

Unemployment rate: 0.3% includes only officially registered
unemployed; large numbers of underemployed workers (December 1996)

Budget:
revenues : $NA
expenditures: $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA

Industries: textiles, food processing, machine building, metallurgy,
natural gas

Industrial production growth rate: 6% (1996 est.)

Electricity - capacity: 11.82 million kW (1994)

Electricity - production: 45.15 billion kWh (1994)

Electricity - consumption per capita: 1,970 kWh (1995 est.)

Agriculture - products: cotton, vegetables, fruits, grain; livestock

Exports:
total value: $3.2 billion (1996)
commodities: cotton, gold, natural gas, mineral fertilizers, ferrous
metals, textiles, food products, autos
partners: Russia, Ukraine, Eastern Eu