s has caused extensive pollution and widespread
health problems. Recently the republic has sought to encourage food
production at the expense of cotton. The small industrial sector specializes
in such items as agricultural machinery, mineral fertilizers, vegetable oil,
and bridge cranes. Uzbekistan also has some important natural resources
including gold (about 30% of former Soviet production), uranium, and natural
gas. The Uzbek Government has encouraged some land reform but has shied away
from other aspects of economic reform. Output and living standards continued
to fall in 1992 largely because of the cumulative impact of disruptions in
supply that have followed the dismemberment of the USSR.
National product:
GDP $NA
National product real growth rate:
-10% (1992)
National product per capita:
$NA
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
at least 17% per month (first quarter 1993)
Unemployment rate:
0.1% includes only officially registered unemployed; there are also large
numbers of underemployed workers
Budget:
revenues $NA; expenditures $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA
Exports:
$900 million to outside the successor states of the former USSR (1992)
commodities:
cotton, gold, textiles, chemical and mineral fertilizers, vegetable oil
partners:
Russia, Ukraine, Eastern Europe
Imports:
$900 million from outside the successor states of the former USSR (1992)
commodities:
machinery and parts, consumer durables, grain, other foods
partners:
principally other former Soviet republics
External debt:
$2 billion (end 1991 est.)
Industrial production:
growth rate -6%
Electricity:
11,950,000 kW capacity; 50,900 million kWh produced, 2,300 kWh per capita
(1992)
Industries:
chemical and mineral fertilizers, vegetable oil, textiles
Agriculture:
cotton, with much smaller production of grain, fruits, vegetables, and
livestock
Illicit drugs:
illicit producers of cannabis and opium; mostly for CIS consumption; limited
government eradication programs; used as transshipment points for illicit
drugs to Western Europe
Economic aid:
$950 million official aid commitments by foreign donors (1992)

*Uzbekistan, Economy

Currency:
retaining Russian ruble as currency (January 1993)
Exchange rates:
rubles per US$1 - 415 (24 December 1992) but subject to wide fluctuations
Fiscal year:
calendar year

*Uzbekistan, Communications

Railroads:
3,